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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


MATTHEW    LYON 

THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS 
A  BIOGRAPHY 


ILLUSTRATED 


j.  FAIRFAX  MCLAUGHLIN,  LLD. 

Author  of  "College  Days  at  Georgetown"  "Origin  of  the  Star  Spangled 

Banner"  "Sketches  of  Fisher  Ames,  Alexander  H.  Stephens* 

and  Benjamin  Robbins  Curtis"  etc. 


NEW   YORK: 

WYNKOOP  HALLENBECK  CRAWFORD  COMPANY 

MDCCCC 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


CONTENTS 


PACF 

Introduction ..  • vii-xi 

CHAPTER  I. 
A  glance  at  Irish  history.    Wicklow.    Boyhood  of  Matthew 

Lyon  in  Dublin.    His  departure  for  America 1-48 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Stamp  Act.  Lyon  in  youth  a  Connecticut  Redemptioner. 
Marries  Ethan  Allen's  niece.  Removes  with  Thomas 
Chittenden  to  Vermont.  Dr.  Dwight's  strictures  on 
Vermont  and  Vermonters 49~<X> 

CHAPTER  III. 

Yorkers  and  Green  Mountain  Boys.  Hampshire  Grants  Con 
troversy.  The  Revolution.  Lyon  in  Ethan  Allen's 
storming  party  at  Ticonderoga.  Cashiered  by  Gates. 
Restored  by  Schuyler.  Lyon  rescues  St.  Clair's  army 
from  Burgoyne.  Fills  important  stations  in  Vermont..  97-166 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Lost  Sibyl  leaves  of  Gov.  Chittenden.  Death  of  Mrs.  Lyon. 
Haldimand  Intrigue.  Gov.  Chittenden's  daughter  be 
comes  Col.  Lyon's  second  wife.  He  founds  Fair  Haven. 
Elected  to  Congress 167-208 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Federalists  rule  with  an  iron  rod.  Peter  Porcupine  an  un 
rivalled  scold.  The  Lyon-Griswold  fight.  Pistolers  and 
pugilists  in  Congress.  A  century  of  Hotspurs 209-305 


fV  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VI. 

PAGB. 

President  Adams  sends  Col.  Lyon  to  prison,  as  Charles  the 
First  sent  John  Hampden,  and  is  overthrown  in  some 
what  the  same  way.  The  X.  Y.  Z.  imposture.  Hamil 
ton  in  the  ascendant.  He  strikes  at  John  Adams,  who 
strikes  back  and  crushes  him.  Lyon's  triumphant  re 
entry  in  Congress 306-382 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Jefferson  elected  President.  Lyon's  decisive  part  in  the  result. 
Fictions  and  fables  of  a  century  laid  bare.  Lyon's  letter 
to  ex- President  Adams 383-406 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Westward  Ho!  Col.  Lyon  founds  Eddyville,  Kentucky. 
Again  in  Congress.  A  study  of  John  Randolph  of 
Roanoke.  Henry  Clay  and  Matthew  Lyon  disciples  of 
Matthew  Carey.  Clay  and  Jackson  hostile  to  Jefferson 
through  the  machinations  of  Burr.  Lyon  opens  the 
eyes  of  Jackson  to  his  mistake.  Clay  also  enlightened 
and  refuses  his  hand  to  Burr  in  New  York.  Lyon  calls 
Madison  the  Caucus  President.  Opposes  war  of  1812, 
and  like  Randolph  loses  his  seat  in  Congress.  Dis 
tinguished  descendants  of  Col.  Lyon.  His  friendly  rela 
tions  with  Josiah  Quincy.  President  Monroe  appoints 
Lyon  Factor  to  Cherokee  Nation.  Again  elected  to 
Congress,  but  dies  at  Spadfa  Bluff  before  he  can  take 
his  seat.  Re-interred  at  Eddyville 40^475 

APPENDIX. 

Col.  Lyon's  religious  faith.  His  relations  with  Burr  and  Wil 
kinson.  His  letters  to  Josiah  Quincy  and  Armisted  C. 
Mason.  Letter  to  Lyon  of  Albert  Gallatin.  Lyon's 
farewell  letter  in  Niles's  Register  a  political  curiosity. .  477-512 

General  Index 5i3~53i 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

MATTHEW  LYON Frontispiece 

J.  FAIRFAX  MCLAUGHLIN xi 

THOMAS  CHITTENDEN 147 

LYON-GRISWOLD  FIGHT  IN  CONGRESS.    A  Cartoon 229 

JOHN  ADAMS 306 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON 383 

CHITTENDEN  LYON 418 

WILLIS  B.  MACHEN 422 

EDWARD  C.  MACHEN 426 


INTRODUCTION. 

XT O  other  American  has  illustrated  more  thoroughly  than 
Matthew  Lyon  the  excellence  of  democratic  institutions 
in  affording-  to  every  man  of  character  and  talents  a  fair  field  for 
honorable  distinction.  But  so  fleeting  is  political  eminence,  so 
evanescent  are  the  highest  distinctions  of  government,  that  it 
is  doubtful  whether  the  name  of  Lyon,  who  in  his  day  and 
generation  filled  conspicuous  places  as  soldier,  civilian  and 
congressman,  and  was  as  well  known  as  any  man  in  America, 
has  not  been  entirely  forgotten  by  ninety-nine  out  of  every 
hundred  American  citizens.  Such  is  fame. 

A  century  ago  he  who  did  not  know  Matthew  Lyon  of 
Vermont  might  well  confess  himself  unknown.  In  a  century 
more  how  few  of  the  great  men  of  to-day,  heroes  of  the 
passing  hour,  presidents,  governors,  senators,  congressmen, 
ambassadors,  generals  and  admirals,  alas,  how  few  of  them  all 
shall  have  escaped  the  fate  of  Matthew  Lyon,  and,  like  him,  not 
be  entirely  forgotten! 

"  The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them, 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones." 

Feeling  an  aversion  for  political  pamphleteers  who  pretend 
to  write  American  history,  I  resolved  many  years  ago  to  inves 
tigate  diligently  all  accessible  sources  of  information  which 
might  throw  light  upon  the  events  of  Matthew  Lyon's  life, 
and  to  gather  up  the  facts  of  his  career  into  a  connected  nar 
rative.  It  was  an  immense  labor.  Local  chronicles,  moth- 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION 

eaten  documents,  court  records,  congressional  and  State  legis 
lative  annals,  and  county,  town  and  State  histories;  innumer 
able  pamphlets  and  lists  of  essays,  addresses,  lectures,  and  other 
fugitive  productions,  often  found  in  book  catalogues  comprised 
under  the  head  of  Americana;  old  letters  fortunately  preserved 
in  the  hands  of  his  descendants  and  others ; — such  was  the  wide 
field  in  which  I  delved  industriously  for  long  years.  Interest 
in  the  subject  constantly  increased,  and  after  I  had  compiled 
a  half  dozen  big  scrap-books,  I  began  to  digest  materials  and 
write  the  following  pages.  At  last  the  task,  thought  quixotic 
by  several  friends,  was  completed. 

I  had  written  the  life  of  Matthew  Lyon,  but  who  was  going 
to  publish  it?  One  publisher  after  another  was  consulted,  and 
all  of  them  proved  languid.  "  Who  was  Matthew  Lyon?  " 
They  did  not  know  anything  about  him ;  the  public  was  not  in 
terested  in  him.  From  the  commercial  point  of  view,  they  saw 
no  money  in  such  a  book.  Reluctantly  enough  the  manuscript 
was  laid  aside,  and  might  have  reposed  neglected  in  my  library 
until  vixit  should  be  written  after  my  name,  when  probably  it 
would  be  sent  to  the  paper  mill  with  other  rubbish,  or  left  to 
be  devoured  by  mice  in  the  attic.  From  this  fate  a  lineal  de 
scendant  of  the  old  Revolutionary  hero  finally  rescued  it  by 
what  appeared  to  be  the  merest  accident. 

He  chanced  to  read  an  article  of  mine  in  the  New  York  Sun 
on  the  late  Hon.  John  Randolph  Tucker,  a  few  days  after  the 
death  of  that  brilliant  Virginian,  and  surmised  that  the  writer 
peradventure  might  know  something  about  his  own  great 
grandfather,  Matthew  Lyon.  This  haphazard  conjecture  was 
brought  to  my  notice  by  a  letter  from  the  gentleman  in  ques 
tion,  Col.  Edward  Chittenden  Machen,  of  New  York  city. 


INTRODUCTION  IX 

Great  was  his  surprise  when  he  learned  that  I  had  written  a 
Matthew  Lyon  biography.  He  called  upon  me,  I  handed  him 
the  manuscript  for  perusal,  negotiations  were  opened  for  its 
publication,  and  in  this  strange,  almost  romantic  manner  the 
following  pages  have  been  brought  to  light.  Colonel  Machen 
not  only  paid  me  for  my  work,  but  has  assumed  all  the  ex 
penses  of  the  publication,  and  his  pious  reverence  for  his  ances 
tor  deserves  a  suitable  recognition  from  every  one,  now  or  here 
after,  who  may  become  interested  in  the  subject. 

A  native  of  Ireland,  born  in  the  year  1750,  in  the  Golden  Belt 
of  Wicklow,  Matthew  Lyon  had  the  misfortune,  according  to 
the  Kentucky  historian  Collins,  of  losing  his  father  in  the  in 
surrection  of  the  White  Boys,  who  was  cruelly  put  to  death 
by  the  English  because  he  loved  his  country  and  took  up  arms 
against  the  intolerable  oppression  of  its  invaders.  An 
ancestor  of  the  author  of  this  book,  Edmund  Sheehy  of  Clon- 
mel,  grandfather  of  Lady  Blessington  on  her  mother's  side, 
was  likewise  judicially  murdered  during  the  same  unhappy 
days.  Whether  on  account  of  this  fellowship  in  the  martyr 
dom  of  their  fathers,  or  from  other  patriotic  affinities,  James 
Sheehy,  of  Alexandria,  Virginia,  and  Matthew  Lyon,  of  Ver 
mont,  became  warm  friends  while  the  latter  was  a  member  of 
Congress  at  Washington  in  the  year  1803.  James  Sheehy  was 
the  son  of  the  above  Edmund,  and  a  nephew  of  Father  Nicho 
las  Sheehy,  who  in  the  year  1766  was  horribly  butchered  by 
the  English,  beheaded  and  quartered,  because  he  would  not 
reveal  the  secrets  of  the  confessional  to  his  accusers.  James 
left  Ireland  and  became  a  wealthy  importing  merchant  at  Alex 
andria,  Virginia.0  His  own  son  Edmund  was  my  maternal 

°Madden's  Life  of  the  Countess  of  Blessington,  I,  16. 


X  INTRODUCTION 

grandfather,  who  told  me  in  my  childhood  of  Matthew  Lyon, 
and  of  that  gentleman's  visits  to  his  father's  house.  Thus  be 
gan  my  interest  in  the  subject  of  this  biography. 

Colonel  Lyon  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  a  niece 
of  Ethan  Allen,  the  hero  of  Ticonderoga;  his  second  a  daugh 
ter  of  Thomas  Chittenden,  the  first  and  most  celebrated  of  the 
Governors  of  Vermont.  Lyon  founded  the  town  of  Fair 
Haven  in  that  State,  a  seat  of  thriving  industry;  and 
afterwards  the  town  of  Eddyville  on  Cumberland  river,  Ken 
tucky.  He  represented  Vermont  and  Kentucky  in  Congress, 
and  was  elected  in  his  old  age  second  delegate  to  Congress 
from  the  Territory  of  Arkansas,  although  he  did  not  live  to 
take  his  seat. 

Rudyard  Kipling  has  paraphrased,  in  one  of  his  stories,  a 
favorite  expression  of  Colonel  Lyon,  "  By  the  bulls  that  re 
deemed  me,"  into  "  By  the  bull  that  bought  me/'  an  impreca 
tion  employed  by  Lyon  to  signify  his  pride  instead  of  shame 
in  the  circumstance  that  he  was  once  bought  by  a  Connecticut 
Yankee  for  a  pair  of  two-year-old  stags.  He  came  to  America 
as  a  redemptioner,  and  in  the  scarcity  of  money  the  bulls  be 
came  a  part  of  the  consideration  for  his  services.  From  this 
humble  beginning  he  rose  to  an  honorable  station  in  society, 
and  cast  the  momentous  vote  in  Congress  which  made  Jeffer 
son  President  of  the  United  States.  John  Adams  procured  the 
passage  of  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  chiefly  to  get  rid  of 
Lyon,  who  was  tried,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  four  months' 
imprisonment,  and  to  pay  a  fine  of  one  thousand  dollars  under 
the  odious  sedition  act.  But  Lyon  proved  stronger  in  his  cell, 
like  another  Hampden,  than  Adams  in  the  Presidential  office. 
The  people  of  Vermont  re-elected  him  to  Congress  while  he 


j.  FAIRFAX  MCLAUGHLIN 


INTRODUCTION  XI 

was  incarcerated,  and  he  came  out  of  his  prison  door  for  a 
triumphal  progress  to  the  seat  of  government,  attended  by  a 
multitude  larger  than  was  ever  before  brought  together  in  the 
Green  Mountain  State;  "the  train,"  says  Robinson  in  his  "Ver 
mont,"  recently  issued  in  Scudder's  series  of  "  American  Com 
monwealths,"  "  extending  a  distance  of  twelve  miles.  With 
half  as  many,"  felicitously  adds  Mr.  Robinson,  "  he  might 
boast  of  a  greater  following  than  had  passed  up  the  Indian 
Road  under  any  leader  since  the  bloody  days  of  border  war 
fare,  when  Waubanakee  chief  or  Canadian  partisan  led  their 
marauding  horde  along  the  noble  river."* 

Such  was  Matthew  Lyon,  "loved,"  says  the  distinguished 
publicist,  Francis  Wharton,  "  as  a  neighbor,  for  he  was  full  of 
that  chivalrous  spirit  of  generosity  which  is  not  a  strange  in 
mate  of  an  Irish  heart;  and  valued  as  a  friend,  for  upon  that 
warm  temperament  had  been  grafted  the  fertility  of  expedients 
belonging  to  the  American  pioneer.  "b> 

J.  F.  McL. 

NEW  YORK,  March  15,  1900. 

0  Rowland  E.  Robinson's  "  Vermont,"  p.  262. 
"  State  Trials  of  the  United  States,"  p.  344. 


MATTHEW    LYON 

THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS 
A  BIOGRAPHY 


CHAPTER  I 

HIS  BIRTH  AND  CHILDHOOD  IN  WICKLOW  —  THE  GOLDEN  BELT 
OF  IRELAND  —  PASSES  HIS  BOYHOOD  IN  DUBLIN  WHEN 
BURKE,  GRATTAN  AND  SHERIDAN  FIGURED  THERE — CHARLES 
LUCAS  HIS  MODEL  —  SETS  OUT  FOR  AMERICA. 

TV/T  ATTHEW  LYON,  the  Irish-American  Hampden,  victim 
and  destroyer  of  the  first  great  conspiracy  against  the 
liberties  of  the  United  States,  known  as  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws,  was  born  in  County  Wicklow,  the  Switzerland  of  Ireland, 
July  14,  1750. 

This  beautiful  county  adjoins  Dublin  on  the  south,  and  is 
celebrated  for  its  mountain  scenery,  the  once  magnificent  forest 
of  Shillalah,  and  a  landscape  of  surpassing  loveliness.  Numer 
ous  villas  and  spreading  demesnes  adorn  that  romantic  region 
within  its  borders  known  as  the  Golden  Belt.  "Were  I 
asked,"  says  Sir  Jonah  Harrington  in  his  description  of  Wick- 
low,  "  to  exemplify  my  ideas  of  rural,  animated,  cheering  land 
scape,  I  should  say,  My  friend,  travel,  visit  that  narrow  region 
which  we  call  the  Golden  Belt  of  Ireland."* 

a"  Personal  Sketches  of  My  Own  Times." 


2  MATTHEW   LYON 

The  scenery  of  Wicklow  has  furnished  a  glowing  theme  for 
tourists,  and  a  favorite  subject  for  painters  and  etchers.  From 
Spenser  in  the  Elizabethan  age,  to  Tom  Moore  and  Aubrey 
De  Vere  in  our  own,  poets  have  celebrated  the  scenery  of  the 
county  in  song  and  pictured  page.  Grandeur  and  beauty  meet 
the  eye  on  every  side,  from  towering  Lugnaquilla  to  the  wild 
fastnesses  of  Glenmalure;  from  the  Round  Tower  and  Saint 
Kevin's  Rock  to  the  romantic  Dargle  and  its  Lover's  Leap. 
Here  is  the  sublime  Cascade  of  Powerscourt;  there  the  Glen 
of  the  Downs  and  mystic  Luggela. 

Yon  bosky  dell  is  none  other  than  Sweet  Vale  of  Avoca, 
where  "  the  bright  waters  meet."  At  Shelton  Abbey  in 
the  Vale  of  Arklow  slept  James  the  Second  after  his  inglo 
rious  flight  from  the  Boyne.a  And  further  on  amidst  the 
enchanting  scenery  of  Wicklow  is  historic  Tinehinch,  home 
of  the  Irish  Demosthenes,  Henry  Grattan.  Out  of  the 
wild  Wicklow  passes  to  clasp  to  his  heart  once  more  his 
betrothed  Sarah  Curran,  ere  he  should  quit  his  native  land 
forever,  came  Robert  Emmet  to  his  melancholy  fate.  In  this 
celebrated  county  was  born  Matthew  Lyon,  the  future  Ameri 
can  statesman,  whose  life  scarcely  less  adventurous  than  that 
of  a  hero  of  romance  will  form  the  subject  of  the  following 
pages.  His  early  boyhood  was  passed  in  Dublin. 

Stronghold  of  the  English  power,  Dublin  has  ever  been  the 
focus  of  British  influence  in  Ireland.  It  is  a  remark  of 
scholars  that  in  no  other  place  in  the  Empire  is  the  English 
language  spoken  with  greater  purity  than  at  Dublin.  Con 
stant  intercourse  between  the  people  of  Wicklow  and  those  of 
the  city  has  made  an  impression  on  Wicklow  manners.  The 

0  Lodge's  "  Peerage  ";   and  Knight's  "  Guide  to  Wicklow,"  p.  82. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  3 

peculiarity  of  speech,  called  the  brogue,  is  less  observable  in 
this  county  than  in  any  other  throughout  the  Island.1*  The 
picturesque  costume  of  the  ancient  clans  has  been  replaced  like 
wise  by  modern  English  dress.  But  with  these  exceptions, 
old  customs  remain  unchanged,  and  no  part  of  Ireland  is  more 
strongly  marked  by  the  national  characteristics  than  Wick- 
low. 

In  spite  of  the  proximity  of  Dublin,  Wicklow  was  one  of  the 
last  districts  of  Leinster  that  was  conquered  by  the  English 
invaders.  For  centuries  the  present  county  formed  part  of 
County  Wexford,  from  which  it  was  separated  and  made 
shire  ground  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth;  but  it  was  not 
until  1605,  during  the  reign  of  James  the  First,  as  we  learn 
from  the  Hibernia  Dominicana,  that  it  was  raised  to  the  dignity 
of  a  county.6  The  clans  of  the  O'Tooles,  O'Byrnes,  O'Kava- 
naghs,  and  Walshes,  the  aboriginal  chieftains  of  Wicklow,  hung- 
like  a  black  cloud  over  the  neck  of  Dublin,0  giving  and  taking 
blows,  and  when  overwhelmed  by  numbers  retreated  to  their 
strongholds  in  the  mountains,  where  for  centuries  they  success 
fully  defied  the  English  power.  The  bitter  strains  in  which 
the  early  English  historians  rail  against  them  prove  how  well 
the  men  of  Wicklow  held  their  own  against  the  inroads  of  the 
Saxons.  Abuse,  cheap  resource  of  baffled  enemies,  is  the  only 
language  they  employ  in  their  accounts  of  these  sturdy  moun 
taineers.  Even  Spenser,  the  Rubens  of  English  poetry,  dis 
figures  the  pages  of  his  learned  work,  "  A  View  of  the  State 


a  Knight's  "  Guide  to  Wicklow,"  Introductory  Chapter,  p.  8. 
6"  Wickloe  patrum  memoria  1605  comitatus  jus  induit  Equite  Arth. 
Chichester  pro-rege."    Hibernia  Dominicana. 
0  Spenser's  "  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland." 


4  MATTHEW  LYON 

of  Ireland/'  by  coarse  invective  against  the  wild  Irish  septs  of 
Wicklow.  The  truth  is,  these  septs  were  a  brave  race  strug 
gling  for  their  own  and  their  country's  liberty. 

Quintilian  somewhere  says  that  genius  is  the  heritage  of 
mountainous  lands,  for  people  there  are  always  free.  From 
his  mountain  progenitors  Lyon  inherited  invincible  courage, 
the  Celtic  love  of  fun  and  adventure,  and  a  self-reliance  that 
failed  him  not  in  the  most  trying  hours  of  his  checkered  life. 
From  time  immemorial  Wicklow  rejoiced  greatly  in  the 
peculiar  Irish  institution  of  fairs.  Young  Lyon  probably  at 
tended  some  of  them,  and  mingled  in  the  throngs  of  drovers- 
and  frieze-dealers,  of  peddlers  and  pipers,  among  the  cattle 
and  pigs,  when  gentry  and  peasantry,  tithe-proctors  and  tithe 
payers,  seneschals  and  rapparees,  coming  together  in  a  body 
and  forgetting  their  differences,  made  the  market  towns  of 
Wicklow  ring  with  jollity.  Wakes  and  dances  were  among 
the  most  popular  customs  of  the  people,  the  ceremony  of  keep 
ing  the  dead  company  during  the  night  with  wassail  and  song 
and  ululations  being  strictly  observed;  while  persons  of  all 
ages  assembled  at  the  dances,  when  the  young  trod  measures 
to  the  music'  of  the  bagpipes,  and  the  old,  after  the  manner  of 
Asiatics,  recounted  ancient  legends  which  had  been  handed 
down  for  centuries,  perhaps  withoxit  the  loss  or  gain  of  a  single 
sentence.0 

The  "  retrospective  imagination,"  remarked  upon  by  Mr. 
Lecky,  that  distinguishes  the  Irish  above  all  other  races,  had 
full  play  in  Lyon's  native  county.  Every  stranger  was  told 
wonderful  stories  of  the  Phooca,  the  phantom  steed,,  which  had 
been  ridden,  so  ran  the  tale,  by  Strongbow  and  after  by  Old 

•  Sir  Jonah  Harrington's  "  Sketches  of  My  Own  Times." 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  5 

Noll,  when  they  came  into  Ireland  on  mischief  bent.  Breath 
ing  fire  from  his  nostrils  the  Phooca  still  was  wont  on  stormy 
nights  to  dash  down  mountain  cataracts,  and  sometimes  to 
serve  tricks  on  belated  travelers,  such  as  poor  little  Tommy 
Cuttings,  a  tailor  of  Ballymore  Eustace,  whom  he  overtook 
one  dark  night  and  bore  away  over  the  mountains  into  a  fu 
rious  succession  of  Tarn  O'Shanter  adventures.*1  Tommy's 
phantom  gallop  ever  after  furnished  a  winter  evening's  tale 
along  the  whole  countryside  from  Dublin  to  the  Meeting  of 
the  Waters.  But  of  all  the  legends  of  Wicklow  that  of  Saint 
Kevin  and  the  Lady  is  the  most  popular.  According  to  one 
tradition,  quaintly  preserved  in  an  ancient  Wicklow  song,  the 
Lady  was  no  other  than  an  old  hag  or  witch  whose  persecutions 
drove  the  Saint  from  picturesque  Luggela,  the  spot  originally 
chosen  for  the  erection  of  his  celebrated  Seven  Churches,  Ire 
land's  mystical  number.  But  according  to  another  tradition, 
adopted  for  purposes  of  poetry  by  Tom  Moore,  she  was  the 
beautiful  Kathleen  who  followed  the  Saint  to  his  lonely  retreat 
at  Glendalough  only  to  be  hurled  from  the  beetling  rock  to  a 
watery  grave: 

"  By  that  Lake  whose  gloomy  shore 
Skylark  never  warbles  o'er." 

On  his  visit  here  in  1825,  Sir  Walter  Scott  described  the 
Seven  Churches  of  Glendalough,  of  which  the  See  of  Dublin 
was  once  only  a  suffragan,  as  "  the  inexpressibly  singular 
scene  of  Irish  antiquities."" 

In  Matthew  Lyon's  childhood,  the  Irish  peasantry  though 
almost  cured  of  their  love  of  the  Stuarts,  as  the  Young  Preten- 

«Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall's  "Scenery  of  Ireland,"  article  Wicklow. 


6  MATTHEW  LYON 

der  had  found  to  his  cost  in  1746,  were  nevertheless  far  from 
being  reconciled  to  the  House  of  Hanover.  Father  O'Leary 
and  Bishop  Berkeley  had  kept  them  away  from  Culloden  whither 
their  hearts  inclined  them,  but  the  broken  treaty  of  Limerick 
had  annihilated  forever  all  lingering  Irish  affection  for  the 
Kings  and  government  of  England,  and  affords  to  statesmen 
and  rulers  of  men  everywhere  an  impressive  example  of  what 
Burke  finely  calls  "the  ill-husbandry  oi  injustice."  While 
the  vice-regal  party  in  Dublin  strove  to  keep  alive  loyal  recol 
lections  of  King  William  by  quaffing  off  bumpers  to  "  the 
glorious,  pious  and  immortal  memory  of  William  the  Dutch- 
.man,"  the  men  of  Wicklow  answered  the  Castle  toast  by 
drinking  to  "  the  memory  of  the  Chestnut  Horse  "  that  broke 
the  neck  of  the  same  William  of  Orange,  and  refilling  many  a 
measure  of  Drogheda  usquebaugh  in  honor  of  the  avenging 
steed.0  They  had  not  forgotten  William's  speech  on  the  Irish 
woolen  trade,  to  say  nothing  of  the  battle  of  the  Boyne. 

The  manners,  customs,  and  highly  imaginative  legends  of 
Lyon's  native  county  exercised  an  influence  in  the  formation 
of  his  character,  and  to  some  extent  afford  a  key  to  the  numer 
ous  romantic  episodes  in  his  after  life. 

Of  the  lives  of  his  parents  but  few  particulars  are  remem 
bered.  His  father's  calling  is  not  known,  but  if  he  was  in  the 
insurrection  of  the  evicted  cottiers  called  White  Boys,  as  there 
is  some  reason  to  believe,  it  is  probable  his  occupation  was 
that  of  a  small  farmer.  He  must  have  possessed  some  means, 
as  he  placed  his  son  at  school  in  Dublin,  and  afforded  him 
opportunity  of  acquiring  a  fair  English  education,  and  a  little 
knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek.  The  last  surviving  daughter 

0  Harrington's  "  Sketches  of  My  Own  Times." 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  7 

of  Matthew  Lyon,  the  late  venerable  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Roe,  of 
Illinois,  was  of  opinion  that  her  father's  parents  were  wealthy. 
During  Matthew's  childhood  a  famine  occurred  in  Ireland, 
and  widespread  destitution  prevailed  among  the  people,  calami 
ties  vividly  narrated  by  Matthew  O'Connor  and  other  Irish 
historians  of  that  period.  The  fact  that  the  father  was  able  in 
those  trying  times  to  provide  means  to  educate  his  son  at  a 
distance  from  home  is  evidence  that  he  was  at  least  in  easy 
circumstances.  It  is  the  custom  in  Ireland  to  place  children  at 
school  at  a  very  early  age.  Swift  was  sent  when  he  was  six 
years  old.  Lyon  must  have  been  very  young,  for  all  accounts 
agree  that  his  father  died  while  he  was  a  small  boy,  and  that 
his  school  days  ended  when  he  was  in  his  thirteenth  year.  In 
Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  where  Colonel  Lyon  passed  his 
latter  years,  a  sketch  of  his  life  is  given.  After  speaking  of  him 
as  "the  most  remarkable  character  in  southwestern  Kentucky," 
the  historian  refers  to  his  parentage  and  says :  "  His  father, 
while  Matthew  was  a  small  boy,  engaged  in  a  conspiracy 
against  the  British  Crown,  for  which  he  was  tried,  condemned 
and  executed.  His  widow  soon  married;  and  Matthew,  at  the 
age  of  nineteen,  fled  from  the  cruelty  of  a  step-father  to 
America."0 

But  Matthew's  age  at  the  time  of  his  emigration  is  not  cor 
rectly  stated  by  Mr.  Collins.  At  thirteen,  after  leaving  school, 
he  was  placed  in  a  Dublin  printing  office,  or  newspaper  office, 
to  learn  the  trades  of  printer  and  book-binder.  He  worked 
here  about  two  years.  If  the  father  suffered  capital  punish 
ment,  the  early  days  of  his  sensitive,  high-strung  son  were  no 
doubt  embittered,  and  this  tragedy,  reported  by  so  respectable 


a Collins's  "  History  of  Kentucky,"  Vol.  II,  p.  491. 


8  MATTHEW  LYON 

an  authority  as  Collins,  the  Kentucky  historian,  who  may  have 
learned  of  it  directly  or  through  others  from  Colonel  Lyon  him 
self,  deserves  more  than  passing  reference  in  a  memoir  of  the 
son's  life.  If  the  elder  Lyon  was  put  to  death  for  White  Boy  ism, 
as  were  so  many  of  his  innocent  countrymen,  a  sad  motive  for 
the  early  exile  of  his  son  may  be  found  in  that  tragedy.  During 
the  eighteenth  century  confiscation  in  Ireland  usually  went 
hand  in  hand  with  the  doom  of  death.  Upon  the  execution  of 
the  father,  his  family  probably  at  the  same  time  was  reduced  to 
poverty. 

About  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  several  insurrec 
tions  occurred  in  various  parts  of  Ireland.  It  is  the  opinion 
of  some  writers,  as  said  above,  that  the  elder  Lyon  was  a  Wick- 
low  farmer.  If  so,  the  uprising  of  the  White  Boys  was  the 
one,  if  any,  in  which  he  probably  took  part.  Insurrections 
among  the  manufacturing  classes  of  the  North  of  Ireland  were 
frequent  about  that  time,  as  they  had  been  in  the  earlier  part 
of  the  century. 

The  chief  commercial  dependence  of  the  country,  if  not  the 
sole  one,  was  the  woolen  trade.  By  an  act  of  the  British  Par 
liament,  passed  in  1699,  and  described  by  the  impartial  his 
torian  Lecky  as  one  of  "crushing  and  unprecedented  severity," 
the  export  of  the  Irish  woolen  manufactures,  not  only  to  Eng 
land  but  to  all  other  countries,  was  absolutely  prohibited. 
"  The  effects  of  this  measure,"  says  Lecky,  "  were  ter 
rible,  almost  beyond  conception.  The  main  industry  of  the 
country  was  at  a  blow  completely  and  irretrievably  annihilated. 
A  vast  population  was  thrown  into  a  condition  of  utter  destitu 
tion."0 


a  Lecky's  "  Leaders  of  Irish  Opinion." 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  9 

Skilled  labor  fled  the  country  in  despair,  for  its  main  interest 
was  swept  away,  and  it  found  a  more  congenial  field  for  its 
enterprise  in  Germany,  France  and  Spain.  The  western  and 
southern  districts  of  Ireland  were  almost  depopulated,  and 
emigration  to  America,  the  present  United  States,  which  with 
occasional  interruptions  has  continued  in  an  ever-increasing 
stream  from  that  day  to  the  present,  then  for  the  first  time  was 
systematically  begun.  The  Irish  of  Ulster  came  over  in  1728, 
and  their  posterity  are  to  be  found  chiefly  in  Pennsylvania  and 
in  the  Southern  States — in  Virginia,  West  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky,  and  as  far  down  as  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia.  They 
now  call  them  Scotch-Irish,  but  why  Scotch  is  not  clear. 
Their  progenitors  came  from  the  province  of  Ulster,  Ireland, 
and  were  described  as  Irishmen,  not  Scotch-Irishmen,  by  the 
historians  of  their  own  age.  In  the  accounts  written  by  them 
selves  which  have  been  preserved  they  are  described  simply  as 
Irishmen,  without  any  Scotch,  English  or  other  prefix  or  com 
pound.  The  new-fangled  name,  propitiatory  coinage  of  a  later 
day,  had  not  then  been  invented.  They  had  no  apologies  to 
offer  for  being  Irishmen.  The  poet's  burning  imprecation, 
beginning  with  the  words,  "  Lives  there  a  man  with  soul  so 
dead,"  never  could  be  applied  to  them.  Of  this  stock  were  An 
drew  Jackson,  John  C.  Calhoun  and  Stonewall  Jackson.  In  the 
appended  letter  Mr.  Calhoun  described  himself  and  his  father. 
Recent  writers  may  take  a  useful  hint  from  this  letter,  never 
hitherto  published,  and  in  which  the  distinguished  writer,  it 
will  be  observed,  describes  his  father,  not  as  many  others  who 
have  written  about  him  have  done  by  employing  the  mixed 
race  words  Scotch-Irish,  but  simply  and  truly  as  an  Irish 
emigrant. 


10  MATTHEW   LYON 

Letter  of  John  C.  C'alhoun  upon  becoming  a  member  of  the 
Irish  Emigrant  Society  of  New  York: 

"  SENATE  CHAMBER, 

"  Washington,  D.  C., 

"  I3th  September,  1.841-. 

"  Dear  Sir. — I  have  been  so  much  engaged  in  the  discharge  of  my 
public  duties  that  I  have  been  compelled  to  neglect  almost  everything 
else  for  the  past  few  weeks,  which  I  hope  will  be  a  sufficient  apology 
for  not  answering  at  an  earlier  date  your  letter  of  131*1  August 

"  I  have  ever  taken  pride  in  my  Irish  descent.  My  father,  Patrick 
Calhoun,  was  a  native  of  Donegal  county.  His  father  emigrated  when 
he  was  a  child.  As  a  son  of  an  emigrant  I  cheerfully  join  your 
Society.  Its  object  does  honor  to  its  founders.  I  enclose  five  dollars 
which  the  Society  will  please  regard  as  my  annual  subscription  for  the 
next  five  years.  With  great  respect, 

"  Yours,  etc., 

"JOHN  C.  CALHOUN. 
"  To  the  Secretary  Irish  Emigrant  Society." 

If  Mr.  Calhoun  always  took  pride  in  his  Irish  descent,  Gen 
eral  Jackson  was  not  behind  him  in  devotion  to  the  Celtic 
race.  When  he  was  President  nearly  all  his  personal  attend 
ants  were  natives  of  Ireland,  and  he  would  reason  with  them, 
and  advise  and  exhort  them  as  though  they  were  members  of 
his  own  family.  In  his  "  Irish  Settlers  in  America  "  (p.  1 19) 
the  brilliant  Thomas  D'Arcy  McGee  relates  the  following 
anecdotes  of  Jackson's  partiality  for  persons  of  his  own  race: 
"  Many  instances  of  his  thoughtfulness  in  this  regard  have 
been  related  to  us  by  living  witnesses  of  the  facts.  We  have 
perused  a  most  kind  and  characteristic  letter  from  the  General 
to  Mr.  Maher,  the  public  gardener  at  Washington,  on  the  death 
of  his  children.  It  is  conceived  in  the  most  fraternal  and  cor 
dial  spirit  of  sympathy.  Jackson's  man-servant,  Jemmy 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  II 

O'Neil,  alas!  no  more,  was  once  in  the  circle  of  our  acquaint 
ance.  Before  the  days  of  Father  Mathew,  poor  Jemmy  was 
given  to  sacrifice  too  freely  to  Bacchus,  and  on  those  occasions 
assumed  rather  a  troublesome  control  over  all  visitors  and 
dwellers  in  the  White  House.  After  many  complaints,  Jack 
son  decided  to  dismiss  him,  and  sent  for  him  accordingly. 

Jackson — Jemmy,  you  and  I  must  part. 

Jemmy — Why  so,  General? 

Jackson — Every  one  complains  of  you. 

Jemmy — And  do  you  believe  them,  General? 

Jackson — Of  course,  what  every  one  says  must  be  true. 

Jemmy — Well  now,  General,  I've  heard  twice  as  much  said 
against  you,  and  I  never  would  believe  a  word  of  it.  (Exit 
Jackson.)" 

Chronic  famine  in  a  land  of  plenty  was  the  outcome  of 
England's  inhuman  policy  in  Ireland.  Absentee  landlords 
achieved  the  rest.  Rack-rents  and  tithes  drained  the  people  of 
their  life-blood.  At  that  time  the  Irish  peasantry  drew  their 
subsistence  wholly  from  tillage.  But  in  1761  the  cattle  dis 
ease,  breaking  out  in  Holstein  and  spreading  to  Holland,  soon 
made  its  appearance  in  England.  It  proved  extremely  fatal  to 
horned  cattle.  The  price  of  beef,  butter  and  cheese  rose  enor 
mously.  The  cupidity  of  speculators  was  aroused.  Ireland 
with  its  impoverished  tenantry  offered  an  alluring  field  for  their 
greed.  Alien  speculators  pointed  out  to  the  Irish  landlords 
the  depression  in  all  agricultural  pursuits  except  those  con 
nected  with  cattle  raising.  These  speculators  urged  the  land 
lords  to  dispossess  the  tenants  summarily.  Being  merely 
tenants  at  will,  immediate  eviction  was  practicable.  The  land 
lord  class  arrayed  itself  solidly  against  the  peasantry,  and  an 


12  MATTHEW   LYON 

agricultural  revolution  followed.  The  cottiers  were  ruthlessly 
driven  out,  tillage  was  abandoned,  and  the  land  in  immense 
tracts  leased  to  wealthy  monopolists  for  grazing  purposes. 
These  "  land  pirates,"  as  they  were  called  by  the  evicted  cot 
tiers,  required  few  hands  to  feed  their  cattle.  Their  pay-rolls 
were  consequently  small,  and  they  could  well  afford  to  bribe 
the  landlords  with  larger  rents  than  the  peasants  were  able  to 
pay,  and  ejectment  of  the  small  farmers  became  almost  uni 
versal.  The  starving  peasants  finally  sought  shelter  in  the 
towns,  begging  their  bread  from  door  to  door  when  no  longer 
permitted  to  earn  it.  "  The  only  piteous  resource  of  the 
affluent,"  says  Plowden  in  his  History  of  Ireland,  "  was  to  ship 
off  as  many  as  would  emigrate  to  seek  maintenance  or  death 
in  foreign  climes."  Dean  Swift's  sarcasm  about  cultivating 
cattle  by  banishing  men  was  being  terribly  fulfilled. 

But  while  Plowden  ascribes  the  emigration  of  1762,  and  the 
years  immediately  following,  to  the  bounty  of  the  "  affluent," 
Matthew  O'Connor,  who  lived  at  that  period,  and  ranks  high 
as  a  historian,  does  not  so  state  it.  "  No  resource,"  says  this 
careful  writer,  "  remained  to  the  peasantry  but  emigration. 
The  few  who  had  means  sought  an  asylum  in  the  American 
plantations;  such  as  remained  were  allowed  generally  an  acre 
of  ground  for  the  support  of  their  families,  and  commonage 
for  a  cow,  but  at  rents  the  most  exorbitant."  And  thus  the 
second  exodus  to  America,  this  time  not  from  Ulster,  but  from 
Connaught,  Leinster,  and  Munster,  began  in  1762  and  con 
tinued  for  some  years.  In  this  wave  came  Matthew  Lyon  to 
seek  his  fortunes  in  the  New  World. 

Having  brought  their  victims  to  despair  the  landlords  and 
graziers  attempted  to  shift  the  blame  to  others,  and  to  excite 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  13 

religious  animosities  between  Catholics  and  Protestants.  The 
tithe  proctors  of  the  church  establishment,  always  inexorable 
in  the  exaction  of  tribute,  afforded  a  ready  scape-goat.  The 
nick-name  of  "  tithe-mongers  "  was  invented  for  them  by  the 
real  authors  of  Irish  misery,  whose  benevolent  rapacity  would 
not  admit  of  partnership  in  the  work  of  spoliation.  And  so 
the  landlords  inveighed  against  the  tithe-mongers  until  agra 
rian  violence  on  the  part  of  the  White  Boys  occurred,  when  the 
crafty  instigators  of  these  riots  called  upon  government  to 
suppress  an  insurrection  caused  by  their  own  inhumanity  and 
greed.  It  is  true  that  the  White  Boys  were  recruited  largely 
from  the  ranks  of  the  Catholics,  because  the  peasants  were 
almost  universally  Catholics ;  but  it  is  equally  true  that  the  con 
temporaneous  revolts  in  Ulster  of  the  Peep-of-Day  Boys,  the 
Oak  Boys,  and  the  Hearts  of  Steel  Boys  were  composed  mainly 
of  Protestants.  Neither  religion  nor  politics  had  anything  to 
do  with  these  outbreaks.  Both  Catholics  and  Protestants 
were  starved  into  insurrection,  the  former -by  the  rapacity  of 
landlords  and  graziers,  and  the  latter  by  the  infamous  non- 
exportation  act  of  King  William's  Parliament  in  1699.  The 
government  appointed  a  commission  of  eminent  men  in  1762 
to  inquire  into  the  causes  and  circumstances  of  the  revolt  of 
the  White  Boys.  Its  members  were  distinguished  for  zeal  as 
Protestants  and  ability  as  lawyers.  In  their  report  they  said: 
"  That  the  authors  of  these  riots  consisted  indiscriminately  of 
persons  of  different  persuasions,  and  that  no  marks  of  disaffec 
tion  to  his  Majesty's  person  or  government  appeared  in  any  of 
these  people."*  The  truth  of  this  report  was  attested  by  the 

oPlowden's  "  History  of  Ireland,"  Vol.  II,  p.  138. 


14  MATTHEW  LYON 

judges  of  the  Munster  Circuit,  and  by  the  Lord-Chief-Justice 
of  the  Common  Pleas,  the  upright  Sir  Richard  Aston.0 

But  the  mailed  hand  was  uplifted,  and  the  innocent  not 
less  than  the  guilty  were  made  to  feel  its  vengeance.  Num 
bers  of  the  best  people  in  Ireland  were  accused  and  tried  on  a 
charge  of  White-Boyism,  and  judicially  murdered  upon  the 
suborned  testimony  of  spies  and  informers.6 

It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  the  father  of  Matthew  Lyon 
lost  both  his  estate  and  life  during  the  uprising  of  the  White 
Boys  which  followed  the  wholesale  eviction  of  the  peasantry 
from  their  farms.  But  in  the  estimation  of  those  conversant 
in  the  Irish  State  Trials  of  the  blood-stained  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  such  a  death  will  not  militate  against  the  character  of  the 
elder  Lyon,  but  rather  strengthen  the  opinion  that  he  was  a 
worthy  and  brave  man  who  perished  at  the  hands  of  those 
who  could  not  subdue  him  to  their  purposes. 

Mr.  Collins,  it  will  be  observed,  states  that  Matthew  Lyon's 
mother  was  twice  married.  Matthew  often  spoke  of  her  in 
after  years  with  tender  affection,  and  of  the  tears  he  shed  at 
leaving  her.  He  once  alluded  to  her  in  a  speech  in  Congress. 
"  He  had  no  pretensions/'  he  said,  "  to  high  blood,  though  he 
thought  he  had  as  good  blood  as  any  of  them,  as  he  was  born 
of  a  fine,  hale,  healthy  woman."*  If  his  mother  married  again, 
and  was  still  living  when  her  son  had  become  a  prosperous 
man  in  Vermont,  her  second  marriage  would  explain  her  con 
tinued  residence  in  Ireland.  The  handsome  conduct  of  Mat 
thew  afterwards  in  the  case  of  five  of  the  children  of  his 


"  History  of  Ireland,"  Vol.  II,  p.  139. 
*  Ibid,  "  History  of  Ireland,"  Vol.  II,  p.  140. 
c  Annals  of  Congress,  1797. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  15 

deceased  sister,  Mrs.  Edwards,  is  evidence  enough  of  what  he 
would  have  done  for  his  mother  had  she  needed  his  assistance, 
or  been  free  to  join  him  in  America.  She  remained  in  Ireland, 
but  Matthew  always  remembered  and  spoke  of  his  mother  with 
reverence  and  affection.  His  sister  lived  in  Dublin  and  was 
the  wife  of  a  Mr.  Edwards,  captain  of  an  Irish  merchantman. 
Of  this  marriage  there  were  said  to  be  as  many  as  twenty 
children.*  Captain  Edwards  finally  lost  his  life  by  shipwreck, 
and  left  his  family  destitute.  His  widow  did  not  long  survive 
him.  "  My  aunt  died  broken  hearted/'  said  Mrs.  Roe,  in  a 
letter  to  the  writer  of  this  memoir  containing  some  recollec 
tions  of  her  father's  family.  After  his  removal  to  Kentucky, 
and  while  he  was  a  representative  at  Washington  from  that 
State,  Matthew  Lyon  sent  to  Ireland  for  the  five  youngest 
children  of  this  deceased  sister,  two  sons  and  three  daughters, 
and  received  them  with  open  arms  into  his  American  home. 
The  care  and  affection  he  bestowed  on  his  own  children  were 
extended  by  the  generous  and  warm-hearted  uncle  to  the  new 
comers.  "  They  made  their  home  at  my  father's,"  says  Mrs. 
Roe,  "  until  they  were  men  and  women.  The  two  youngest 
were  married  at  my  father's,  and  he  did  well  by  them." a 

Whether  in  consequence  of  his  father's  reported  execution, 
his  mother's  second  marriage,,  or  the  poverty  of  the  family, 
'we  have  seen  that  young  Matthew  was  taken  from  school  and 
put  in  a  Dublin  printing  office  at  the  age  of  thirteen.  Here  he 
learned  the  trades  of  printer  and  book-binder,  which  afterwards 
proved  of  great  advantage  to  him  in  America.  Many  dis 
tinguished  men  have  begun  their  careers  at  the  printing  case. 
But  it  is  a  misfortune  for  a  promising  boy  to  be  cut  off  at  that 


"Mrs.  Roe's  letter  to  author. 


16  MATTHEW  LYON 

age  from  academic  training.  He  may  have  mastered  arithme 
tic  and  grammar  rules,  and  obtained  a  smattering  of  algebra 
and  the  classics,  but  the  flavor  of  learning  does  not  come  at 
thirteen,  nor,  except  rarely,  correct  taste  and  scholarly  disci 
pline.  No  matter  how  propitious  his  subsequent  career  may 
prove,  without  early  education  a  man  of  great  natural  endow 
ments  is  like  Hercules  without  his  club.  His  best  efforts  will 
be  disfigured  more  or  less  by  the  early  defect.  Still  there  are 
qualifications  to  the  rule,  for  it  is  the  part  of  pedantry  to  lean 
to  the  side  of  names  and  forms,  and  forget  reality  and  sub 
stance.  The  greatest  leaders,  such  as  Marlborough  and 
Washington  and  Jackson,  have  not  been  grammarians  and  rhet 
oricians.  Matthew  Lyon  obtained  an  academic  foundation 
in  a  city  famous  for  its  scholars,  and  pre-eminent  as  a  literary 
and  intellectual  center;  but  he  had  no  more.  For  the  rest  he 
was  entirely  a  self-educated  man.  His  exploits  in  after  life 
prove  that  he  caught  the  spirit  of  his  early  surroundings.  Had 
he  received  a  liberal  education,  his  fine  properties  of  mind 
might  have  carried  him  into  the  highest  walks  of  literature 
and  statesmanship,  together  with  several  other  young  Dub- 
liners,  Burke,  Sheridan  and  Grattan  among  the  number,  who 
were  his  youthful  contemporaries,  and  peradventure  daily 
jostled  him  in  the  streets  in  passing  and  repassing  with  him  to 
their  several  pursuits.  It  is  quite  possible  that  some  of  these 
ingenious  youths  may  have  been  his  playmates  or  friends.  A 
very  Brundusium  for  its  constellation  of  wits  was  Dublin  at 
that  day.  Young  Edmund  Burke  was  already  at  man's  estate, 
and  an  attache  in  the  official  family  of  the  Lord-Lieutenant. 
But  Grattan  was  only  four  years  the  senior  of  Lyon,  and  Sheri 
dan  was  one  year  his  junior. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  IJ 

Burke  went  to  England  to  take  his  place  as  the  greatest 
master  of  the  English  language  since  Shakespeare.  Sheridan 
soon  followed,  and  made  the  wonderful  speech  for  down 
trodden  humanity  in  India,  when,  according  to  Byron,  "  van 
quished  Senates  trembled  as  they  praised."  Burke  declared 
of  this  speech  of  Sheridan  that  it  was  "  the  most  astonishing 
effort  of  eloquence,  argument  and  wit  united  of  which  there 
was  any  record  or  tradition."  Grattan,  the  Irish  Demosthenes, 
remained  behind  to  woo  back  freedom  to  his  beloved  Ireland 
for  a  bright,  brief  era,  and  to  come  forth  at  length  from  Tine- 
hinch,  his  romantic  seat  in  Wicklow,  and  proclaim  a  Bill  of 
Rights  from  College  Green  in  the  presence  of  a  hundred  thou 
sand  Irish  soldiers,  upon  whose  guns  were  inscribed  these  elo 
quent  words — "Free  Trade  or  This."  Matthew  Lyon  crossed 
the  seas  to  hold  the  balance  of  power  between  the  Puritans  and 
Cavaliers  of  America  in  the  most  momentous  civic  contest  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  the  presidential  election  of  1801,  the 
great  formative  era,  and  by  his  vote  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  to  decide  it  in  favor  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Young  as  he  was  when  he  left  his  native  land,  the  main 
springs  of  his  character  are  to  be  sought  for  there.  The 
tyranny  which  he  loathed,  for  a  father  was  probably  its  victim, 
and  the  efforts  of  his  countrymen  to  break  it,  which  he  must 
have  witnessed,  should  be  kept  distinctly  in  view  by  the  his 
torical  student  in  tracing  the  growth  of  his  mind,  and  the 
development  of  his  almost  fanatical  democratic  spirit.  He 
was  born  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  blackest 
hour  of  Ireland's  multiplied  centuries  of  the  penal  laws.  But 
principles  had  been  enunciated  by  Molyneux,  seed  sown  by 
Swift,  arguments  urged  by  O'Leary,  the  Irish  Chrysostom, 


1 8  MATTHEW   LYON 

and  events  were  then  transpiring  directed  by  the  fiery  energy 
of  Dr.  Charles  Lucas,  which  were  to  make  the  blackest  hour 
the  precursor  of  dawn.  The  revolution  of  1688  had  given 
liberty  to  Englishmen,  yet  it  was  but  a  niggardly  liberty  after 
all,  for  it  had  found  Irishmen  in  chains,  and  it  had  pinned  them 
down  in  a  Gibeonite  bondage,  even  worse  than  Ireland,  the 
martyr  nation  of  the  world,  had  yet  endured  in  its  whole 
history. 

The  Plantagenets  and  Tudors  confiscated  the  estates  of  the 
Irish  nobility,  but  the  haughty  Saxon  and  Anglo-Norman 
barons  having  plundered  the  Celtic  princes  and  chieftains,  and 
€xiled  such  of  them  as  were  not  killed  in  battle,  were  content 
to  stop  there,  and  disdained  to  make  war  on  the  common  peo 
ple,  the  great  body  of  the  Irish  race.  They  settled  down  in 
Ireland,  and  the  laboring  classes  were  not  seriously  disturbed. 
For  the  Irish  people  it  was  a  change  of  masters.  Clanship  was 
uprooted,  and  feudalism  to  a  certain  extent  introduced.  True, 
before  these  changes  could  be  effected,  everything  was  carried 
by  the  sword,  or  when  that  proved  unavailing  against  the 
obstinate  valor  of  the  Irish,  the  stranger's  object  was  attained 
by  treachery  and  corrupt  appliances.  The  blood  of  some  of 
the  best  men  that  ever  adorned  the  history  of  Ireland  was  shed, 
martyrs  in  the  highest  sense;  but  it  was  the  blood  of  nobility 
and  clergy,  the  flower  of  the  flock  but  not  the  flock  itself,  the 
great  and  not  the  many,  that  fell  in  the  fierce  onslaught  of  the 
Saxons. 

The  Stuart  dynasty,  for  which  the  Irish  people  felt  so  strange 
an  infatuation,  heroic  in  its  devotion,  but  always  basely 
requited,  entailed  upon  Ireland  infinitely  more  mischief  than 
Plantagenets  and  Lancasters  and  Tudors  combined.  A  swarm 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  19 

of  thrifty  Scotchmen  followed  James  the  First  into  England, 
but  the  English  place-hunters  were  more  than  a  match  for 
them,  and  the  callous  James,  who  had  allowed  his  royal  mother 
to  perish  on  the  block  without  lifting  a  finger  to  save  her,  in 
order  now  to  provide  for  his  countrymen,  sent  them  into  Ire 
land  to  fatten  there  on  the  miseries  of  the  people.  Upon  the 
humble  homes  of  the  poor,  and  not  upon  the  possessions  of  the 
upper  classes,  the  Scotch  adventurers  fixed  hungry  eyes,  thus 
reversing  the  example  of  the  earlier  and  prouder  invaders.  To 
promote  the  schemes  of  his  countrymen  in  Ireland,  James  the 
First  invented  the  notorious  plan  for  universal  plunder,  known 
as  the  "  Commission  for  the  investigation  of  defective  titles." 
Under  the  Irish  clan  system  there  were  no  title-deeds  to  real 
estate.  The  Irish  families  held  their  lands  by  prescription  or 
immemorial  possession.  The  Irish  had  held  these  lands  for 
centuries.  Hence  when  James  the  First  required  them  on 
pain  of  forfeiture  to  produce  title-deeds,  which  he  well  knew 
they  did  not  possess,  he  had  invented  the  most  tremendous 
engine  of  confiscation  ever  heard  of  in  the  civilized  world. 
The  people  saw  with  horror  the  abyss  into  which  their  inheri 
tance  was  about  to  be  engulfed.  The  first  commission  of 
James  reported  three  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand  acres 
in  Leinster  alone  as  "  discovered; "  that  is  to  say,  in  the  judg 
ment  of  the  commission  the  "  titles  were  not  such  as  ought  to 
stand  in  the  way  of  his  Majesty's  designs."0 

Under  Charles  the  First,  the  remorseless  Strafford  carried 
to  still  greater  excess  this  monstrous  scheme  of  spoliation ;  and 
it  reached  its  utmost  limits  in  the  hands  of  Cromwell's  parlia- 


Thebaud's  "  Irish  Race,  Past  and  Present." 


2O  MATTHEW   LYON 

mentary  commissioners.  But  to  do  Cromwell  justice,  he  did 
not  contrive  this  engine  of  confiscation,  but  found  it  ready  to 
his  hand  as  it  had  been  left  by  the  Stuarts.  The  effects  of 
Cromwell's  policy  in  Irelarid  have  been  well  summed  up  in  a 
single  sentence  by  Villemain  in  his  "  Histoire  de  Cromwell:" 
"  Ireland  became  a  desert  which  the  few  remaining  inhabitants 
described  by  the  mournful  saying :  '  There  was  not  water 
enough  to  drown  a  man,  not  wood  enough  to  hang  him,  not 
earth  enough  to  bury  him/  "  Four-fifths  of  the  Irish  nation 
were  deprived  of  their  property  by  Cromwell  because  of  their 
invincible  loyalty  to  Charles  the  First,  whose  head  he  had  cut 
off;  and  incredible  as  it  may  appear,  the  son  of  Charles  the 
First  ratified  that  spoliation  of  his  father's  faithful  subjects  by 
the  troopers  of  his  father's  executioner. 

But  it  remained  for  William  of  Orange  and  Queen  Anne 
and  the  three  first  Georges  to  add  a  new  calamity  to  all  those 
that  had  preceded  it,  for  during  their  reigns  the  spectacle  was 
presented,  as  it  has  been  often  since,  of  a  whole  people  starving 
to  death  in  the  midst  of  plenty,  and  in  time  of  profound  peace. 
The  eighteenth  was  by  bad  eminence  the  century  of  the  penal 
laws.  After  the  treaty  of  Limerick  had  been  broken,  the  Irish 
Parliament  4evised  every  conceivable  scheme  of  persecution, 
outrage,  and  oppression  against  the  great  body  of  the  Irish 
people.  Religious  fanaticism  was  rampant.  The  English  Par 
liament  hating  Irish  Protestants  and  Irish  Catholics  impar 
tially,  passed  laws  which  utterly  crushed  the  trade  of  Ireland. 
Thereafter  began  those  periodical  famines  which  still  continue 
to  visit  that  unhappy  country. 

The  Irish  Parliament  in  Matthew   Lyon's  childhood  was 
seething  in  corruption,  and  did  not  in  any  sense  represent  the 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  21 

people.  Of  its  three  hundred  members,  two  hundred  and 
sixteen  were  what  were  called  nomination  or  rotten-borough 
members,  and  the  Catholics,  who  composed  the  vast  majority 
of  the  whole  population,  were  excluded  from  representation 
both  directly  and  indirectly,  without  seats  and  without  votes  ;a 
nevertheless  through  this  polluted  channel  the  first  signs  of 
life  began  to  enter,  the  first  manifestations  of  an  independent 
spirit  began  now  to  be  discerned.  Against  the  degradation  of 
the  Parliament  of  Ireland,  and  its  abject  subservience  under 
Poyning's  Law  to  the  English  Parliament,  one  great  voice  had 
been  lifted  up.  Molyneux,  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  the 
friend  of  Locke,  and  a  man  of  profound  learning,  had  published 
so  long  before  as  1698  his  celebrated  work  "  The  Case  of  Ire 
land,"  in  which,  by  an  exhaustive  and  unanswerable  appeal  to 
history,  he  proved  that  the  Parliament  of  Ireland  had  naturally 
and  anciently  all  the  prerogatives  in  Ireland  which  the  English 
Parliament  possessed  in  England.  But  at  the  time  he  wrote 
public  spirit  was  dead,  and  the  heart  of  the  nation  was  well 
nigh  broken  by  oppression.  The  English  government  ordered 
his  book  to  be  burned  by  the  common  hangman,  and  the  effect 
of  that  noble  utterance  for  the  time  being  was  lost  on  Ireland. 
But  not  forever. 

Dean  Swift,  with  consummate  skill,  took  up  the  argument  a 
few  years  after,  and  proclaimed  his  absolute  faith  in  the  doc 
trines  of  Molyneux,  and  his  allegiance,  not  to  the  King  of 
England,  but  to  the  King  of  Ireland.  By  his  celebrated 
Drapier's  Letters  the  incomparable  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's  re 
vived  the  spirit  of  nationality  throughout  the  length  and 


a  Lecky's  "  Leaders  of  Irish  Opinion.' 


22  MATTHEW    LYON 

breadth  of  Ireland.  In  describing  the  effect  of  Swift's  Dra- 
pier's  Letters,  the  eloquent  Lecky  exclaims,  "  There  is  no  more 
momentous  epoch  in  the  history  of  a  nation  than  that  in  which 
the  voice  of  the  people  has  first  spoken,  and  spoken  with  suc 
cess.  It  marks  the  transition  from  an  age  of  semi-barbarism 
to  an  age  of  civilization,  from  the  government  of  force  to  the 
government  of  opinion.  Before  this  time  rebellion  was  the 
natural  issue  of  every  patriotic  effort  in  Ireland.  Since  then 
rebellion  has  been  an  anachronism  and  a  mistake.  The  age  of 
Desmond  and  O'Neil  had  passed.  The  age  of  Grattan  and 
O'Connell  had  begun."« 

But  Swift's  death  in  1747  left  Ireland  without  a  leader.  The 
national  spirit  he  had  aroused  and  the  public  opinion  he  had 
created  were  on  the  point  of  extinguishment,  when  the  patriot, 
Charles  Lucas,  appeared  in  the  Irish  Parliament,  and  not  only 
rallied  the  people  once  more,  but  directed  their  energies  into 
political  channels.  Lucas  was  the  first  member  of  the  Irish 
Parliament  during  the  eighteenth  century  who  boldly  grounded 
himself  on  Molyneux  and  Swift,  and  adopted  the  policy  of 
agitation  as  a  substiute  for  force.  The  many-voiced  free  press, 
educator  for  good  or  evil,  the  Archimedean  lever  of  modern 
society,  was  first  introduced  in  the  Irish  capital  by  Lucas,  who 
founded  the  celebrated  newspaper,  the  "  Dublin  Freeman's 
Journal,"  in  which  he  rallied  the  drooping  energies  of  his 
countrymen,  and  organized  the  lines  of  battle  which  Grattan 
and  the  Volunteers  afterwards  so  magnificently  waged  in  1782. 
In  addition  to  a  courage  never  surpassed,  this  Irish  patriot 
possessed  that  wonderful  power  of  electrifying"  the  hearts  of 
the  people  which  within  a  few  years  after  was  to  display  itself  so 

«  Lecky's  "  Leaders  of  Irish  Opinion." 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  23 

marvellously  in  America  in  the  persons  of  Patrick  Henry  and 
James  Otis. 

It  was  during  Matthew  Lyon's  boyhood  that  Charles  Lucas 
figured  in  Dublin.  In  those  early  days  in  the  art  of  printing, 
when  only  the  hand  press  was  in  use,  the  printer  who  set  the 
type  also  folded  papers,  and  it  was  thus  that  Lyon  learned  the 
business  of  bookbinding  in  conjunction  with  typesetting.  In 
the  present  age  the  steam-press  has  driven  the  bindery  out  of 
the  printing  office  and  made  it  a  separate  trade.  It  is  possible 
that  Lyon  was  employed  by  Lucas  and  learned  to  set  type, 
fold  papers  and  bind  books  in  the  office  of  the  "  Freeman's 
Journal."  Certainly  there  are  enough  points  of  resemblance  in 
the  careers  of  the  two  men  to  justify  the  opinion  that  Matthew 
Lyon  selected  his  countryman,  Charles  Lucas,  as  a  model. 
They  both  lived  in  Dublin  at  the  same  time,  perhaps  were  in 
the  same  office,  and  certainly  were  in  the  same  business. 
Lucas  was  the  idol  of  the  people.  Even  the  Catholics,  whose 
religion  he  opposed,  regarded  him  as  another  Swift,  and  as  in 
the  case  of  Swift,  forgot  his  prejudices  against  their  faith  in 
admiration  of  his  shining  patriotism.  Lucas  delighted  to  bring 
fonvard  clever  Irish  youths.  The  style  of  the  "  Freeman's 
Journal  "  was  intensely  democratic,  and  its  leaders,  and  notably 
its  essays  called  "  Barratariana,"  were  hurled  with  fiery  invec 
tive  against  the  Vice-Regal  government  and  the  Castle  or 
aristocratic  party.  When  Lyon  embarked  in  politics  in  Ver 
mont  he  established,  in  spite  of  almost  incredible  obstacles, 
the  "Farmer's  Library,"  a  newspaper  which  he  modeled  on  the 
style  of  the  Dublin  "Freeman's  Journal."  And  afterwards,  when 
a  candidate  for  Congress,  in  1798,  he  began  the  publication  of 
a  semi-monthly  magazine  whose  name  sufficiently  denoted  its 


24  MATTHEW   LYON 

democratic  character, — "  The  Scourge  of  Aristocracy."  The 
Irish  Parliament  of  George  the  Second,  against  whose  contin 
uance  without  a  return  to  the  people  for  a  new  election  Lucas 
struggled  so  hard,  endured  without  prorogation  during  no  less 
than  thirty-three  years.  Lucas  denounced  its  corruptions,  and 
the  slavishness  to  the  Castle  of  its  members  so  pointedly  and  so 
personally  that  the  grand  jury  of  Dublin,  a  packed  body, 
ordered  his  addresses  to  be  burned,  and  the  Parliament  in  1749, 
under  orders  from  the  Castle,  proclaimed  him  an  enemy  to  his 
country,  and  issued  an  order  for  his  arrest.  When  Matthew 
Lyon  took  his  seat  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  his 
first  speech  was  a  vigorous  denunciation  of  the  courtly  pro 
cessions  through  the  streets  of  Philadelphia  on  the  part  of 
members  of  Congress  to  submit  their  answer  to  the  President's 
speech.  He  denounced  the  custom  as  a  slavish  aping  of  the 
manners  of  royalty,  undemocratic  and  un-American.  Lyon 
was  the  first,  indeed  the  only  man  at  that  day  to  lift  his  voice 
against  these  Congressional  street  pageants  of  the  Federalists. 
Afterwards  Jefferson,  when  he  became  President,  sternly  dis 
countenanced  the  ceremony,  and  it  was  abolished.  Lyon's 
boldness  and  defiance  of  power,  constantly  encroaching  upon 
the  rights  of  the  people,  excited  the  alarm  and  enmity  of  the 
friends  of  the  President  in  Congress,  who  denounced  him  as 
an  enemy  of  the  country.  When  Lyon,  in  a  temperate  but  fear 
less  letter,  exposed  the  abuses  of  the  executive  office,  an  order 
for  his  arrest  was  issued  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  Congress,  pre 
cisely  as  an  order  for  the  arrest  of  Dr.  Lucas  had  been  issued 
before  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  Parliament.  Both  Lucas  and 
Lyon  were  enthusiastic  admirers  of  Dr.  Franklin.  Lyon 
placed  his  son  James  at  Philadelphia  under  the  special  charge 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  2£ 

and  direction  of  the  illustrious  philosopher.  In  1771  Franklin 
made  the  tour  of  Ireland,  and  during  his  sojourn  in  Dublin 
resided  at  the  private  residence  of  Dr.  Lucas  as  the  guest  of  the 
'Irish  patriot.  An  interesting  letter  or  fragment  of  one  has 
been  preserved  which  was  written  by  Dr.  Franklin  to  his  dis 
tinguished  friend  Thomas  Gushing,  of  Boston,  shortly  after 
this  visit.  "  Before  leaving  Ireland,"  said  Franklin,  "  I  must 
mention  that  being  desirous  of  seeing  the  principal  patriots 
there,  I  stayed  till  the  opening  of  their  Parliament.  I  found 
them  disposed  to  be  friends  of  America,  in  which  I  endeavored 
to  confirm  them,  with  the  expectation  that  our  growing  weight 
might  in  time  be  thrown  in  their  scale,  and  by  joining  our  in 
terests  with  theirs,  a  more  equitable  treatment  from  this  nation 
might  be  obtained  for  them  as  well  as  for  us.  There  are  many 
brave  spirits  among  them.  The  gentry  are  a  very  sensible, 
polite  and  friendly  people.  Their  Parliament  makes  a  most 
respectable  figure,  with  a  number  of  very  good  speakers  in  both 
parties,  and  able  men  of  business.  And  I  must  not  omit 
acquainting  you  that,  it  being  a  standing  rule  to  admit  mem 
bers  of  the  English  Parliament  to  sit  (though  they  do  not  vote) 
in  the  House  among  the  members,  while  others  are  only  ad 
mitted  into  the  gallery,  my  fellow-traveler  being  an  English 
member,0  was  accordingly  admitted  as  such.  But  I  supposed 
I  must  go  to  the  gallery,  when  the  Speaker  stood  up  and 
acquainted  the  House  that  he  understood  there  was  in  town 
an  American  gentleman  of  (as  he  was  pleased  to  say)  distin 
guished  character  and  merit,  a  member  or  delegate  of  some  of 
the  Parliaments  of  that  country,  who  was  desirous  of  being 


Mr.  Jackson,  M.  P. 


26  MATTHEW   LYON 

present  at  the  debates  of  the  House;  that  there  was  a  rule  of 
the  House  for  admitting  members  of  English  Parliaments,  and 
that  he  supposed  the  House  would  consider  the  American 
Assemblies  as  English  Parliaments;  but  as  this  was  the  first 
instance,  he  had  chosen  not  to  give  any  order  in  it  without 
receiving  their  directions.  On  the  question  the  House  gave  a 
loud,  unanimous  Ay,  when  two  members  came  to  me  without 
the  bar— "« 

A  biography  of  Dr.  Franklin,  one  of  the  first  ever  published 
in  America,  was  issued  out  of  the  printing  office  of  Matthew 
Lyon  at  Fair  Haven,  Vermont,  and  it  is  probable  that  it  was 
written  by  Colonel  Lyon  himself.  He  had  perhaps  been  taught 
to  love  Franklin  by  Lucas.  The  parallel  may  be  traced  one 
step  further. 

Lucas  was  driven  out  of  Ireland  by  the  government  or 
English  party,  but  lived  to  come  back,  and  so  great  was  his 
popularity  that  he  was  returned  by  the  electors  of  Dublin  to 
the  Irish  Parliament.  Lyon  was  driven  out  of  New  England 
by  the  John  Adams  or  Federal  party,  and  went  to  make  his 
home  in  Kentucky,  for,  in  spite  of  many  differences  of  charac 
ter,  the  Irish  and  the  Cavaliers  have  always  foregathered  as 
friends.  So  great  became  his  popularity,  he  was  elected  again 
to  Congress  by  the  people  of  Kentucky,  as  he  had  been  by  the 
gallant  people  of  Vermont  while  a  State  prisoner  in  the  Ver- 
gennes  jail.  "  If  I  have  seen  further  than  others,"  was  the 
remark  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  "  it  was  by  standing  on  the 

«The  rest  of  the  letter  is  lost  Spark's  "Works  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,"  Vol.  VII,  pp.  557-8.  See  also  "  Franklin's  Correspon 
dence." 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  2/ 

shoulders  of  giants."  When  in  1797  Lyon  entered  a  freeman's 
protest  against  the  monarchical  ceremony  of  a  whole  Congress 
packing  through  the  streets  to  present  a  courtly  address  to  the 
President,  not  another  member  of  Congress  stood  up  to  sustain 
him.  If,  like  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  he  saw  further  than  others, 
as  the  event  proved,  it  was  because  he  had  stood  in  his  youth 
on  the  shoulders  of  giants — of  Molyneux  and  Swift,  of  Lucas 
and  Flood,  of  Burke  and  O'Leary.  The  classical  school  and 
Dublin  printing-case  proved  of  inestimable  advantage  to  the 
Wicklow  boy. 

In  his  old  age  Matthew  Lyon  wrote  an  autobiography,  which 
no  doubt  contained  a  full  account  of  his  parentage  and  early 
life.  For  some  years  after  his  death  it  was  preserved  at  his 
homestead  in  Kentucky.  The  writer  has  addressed  inquiries 
concerning  this  autobiography,  which  would  prove  of  such 
value  in  the  preparation  of  the  present  biography,  to  many  of  the 
descendants  of  Colonel  Lyon,  and  with  the  utmost  diligence 
has  followed  every  clue  that  might  lead  to  its  discovery,  but  it 
is  to  be  feared  it  has  been  unfortunately  lost.  His  daughter, 
Mrs.  Roe,  had  never  heard  of  it.  At  least  one  person  now 
living  had  read  it,  a  grandson  of  Colonel  Lyon,  Matthew  S. 
Lyon,  of  Evansville,  Indiana.0  In  a  letter  to  the  writer,  dated 
April  1 8,  1881,  this  gentleman  said: 

"My  grandfather,  Col.  M.  Lyon,  left  an  unfinished  autobiog 
raphy,  which  by  some  inadvertence  was  very  much  mutilated 
by  mice  in  the  attic,  where  it  had  been  stored  away,  and  which 


«At  the  time  of  writing  these  words  the  author  knew  that  Mr.  Mat 
thew  S.  Lyon  was  living.  But  he  has  since  died.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  an  agreeable  and  accomplished  gentleman.  His  death  occurred 
in  Union  County,  Ky.,  in  the  year  1891. 


28  MATTHEW  LYON 

I  trjed  in  my  boyhood  to  mike  something  out  of,  but  which  I 
gave  up  in  despair,  not  being  able  from  my  personal  knowledge 
to  piece  out  the  breaks  in  it.  Some  years  later  the  manuscript 
was  taken  by  a  relative  of  his  (Mason  R.  Lyon,  I  think)  to 
Alabama.  If  I  am  not  mistaken  this  Lyon  was  engaged  in 
publishing  a  newspaper,  but  its  name  or  location  I  am  unable 
to  give  you.  I  think  he  gave  up  the  idea  of  restoring  it  him 
self,  as  I  have  never  heard  anything  of  him  or  it  since,  and 
suppose  it  is  long  since  lost  or  destroyed. 

"  Of  my  grandfather's  history,"  added  this  gentleman,  "  I 
can  give  you  only  a  few  meagre  facts,  which  perhaps  are 
already  known  to  you.  He  was  born  in  Wicklow  county,  Ire 
land,  I  cannot  give  you  the  date,  and  came  to  this  country  at 
thirteen  years  of  age.  I  remember  that  fact  because  connected 
with  it  he  states  one  quite  remarkable,  that  at  that  age  he  was 
a  fair  Latin  and  Greek  scholar,  and  quite  proficient  in  his 
trade,  a  printer  and  bookbinder."® 

This  is  an  important  letter,  and  entitled  to  great  weight,  for 
the  writer  of  it  had  seen  the  autobiography  of  his  grandfather, 
and  what  he  says  in  regard  to  it  is  in  the  nature  of  primary 
evidence.  The  mistake  he  makes  respecting  his  grandfather's 
age  when  he  emigrated  to  America  is  a  very  natural  one.  All 
the  historical  writers  who  have  given  an  account  of  Matthew 
Lyon  have  fallen  into  the  same  error.  Wharton  in  his  "  State 
Trials  of  the  United  States/'  Lossing,  Drake,  and  Collins  in 
their  historical  and  biographical  writings,  Pliny  White  in  his 
address  before  the  Vermont  Historical  Society,  Charles  Lan- 
man  and  Ben  Perley  Poore  in  their  biographical  dictionaries 

0  Letter  of  Matthew  S.  Lyon  to  author. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  29 

of  Congressmen,  and  the  writer  of  the  article  on  Matthew  Lyon 
in  "Appleton's  Cyclopedia;"  all,  except  Collins,  state  that  he 
was  born  in  1746,  and  came  to  this  country  at  thirteen.  Col 
lins  makes  him  still  older,  nineteen  at  the  time  of  his  emigra 
tion.  The  grandson  probably  had  read  the  sketches  of  some 
of  these  authors,  and  their  statements  may  have  confused  his 
recollection  of  what  his  grandfather  himself  must  have  written 
on  the  subject.  The  venerable  Mrs.  Roe,  the  last  survivor  of 
Matthew  Lyon's  immediate  family,  possessed  knowledge  more 
nearly  approaching  accuracy  than  that  of  the  others,  for  she 
says  in  a  letter  to  the  author,  "My  father  came  to  this  country 
when  he  was  fourteen  years  old."  After  a  very  careful  investi 
gation  of  every  attainable  authority  in  relation  to  Colonel 
Lyon's  age,  including  the  Colonel's  own  testimony  on  the 
point,  the  present  writer  is  able  to  state  his  age  exactly,  as  well 
as  the  year  of  his  departure  from  Ireland  for  America. 

Matthew  Lyon  was  born  July  14,  1750,  and  emigrated  from 
Ireland  in  1765,  when  he  was  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  age. 
If  at  thirteen,  as  stated  in  his  autobiography,  according  to  his 
grandson's  recollection  of  it,  he  was  a  fair  Latin  and  Greek 
scholar,  the  explanation  is  that  this  was  the  age  when  he  left 
school,  and  that  the  business  of  printing  and  bookbinding 
came  afterwards,  between  his  thirteenth  year,  when  his  school 
days  ceased,  and  his  fifteenth  year,  when  he  departed  for 
America.  Interesting  particulars  in  relation  to  Colonel  Lyon's 
early  life  lie  buried  away  in  several  town  and  county  histories 
of  Connecticut,  his  first  home  in  this  country.  Some  of  these 
books  are  now  very  scarce,  while  others  are  out  of  print  and 
practically  inaccessible.  Morris's  "Statistical  Account,  etc.,  of 


3O  MATTHEW   LYON 

Litchfield  County/'  published  in  the  early  part  of  this  century, 
cannot  now  be  procured,  while  Woodruff's  "History  of  the  Town 
of  Litchfield"  (1845),  an<3  Kilbourne's  "Biographical  History 
of  Litchfield  County"  (1851),  are  rarely  to  be  met  with,  even 
in  the  libraries  of  Connecticut  antiquarians.  Yet  in  each  of 
those  books  is  contained  an  account  of  Matthew  Lyon,  of  his 
youth  and  first  days  in  America.  It  has  been  the  author's 
good  fortune  to  procure  Woodruff's  and  Kilbourne's  volumes. 
These,  with  Cothren's  "History  of  Ancient  Woodbury,"  and  two 
or  three  other  local  chronicles  of  Connecticut,  have  served  to 
supply  the  hitherto  missing  links  in  the  first  ten  years  of  Lyon's 
life  in  America,  from  the  time  he  left  Dublin  to  his  settlement  in 
Vermont.  The  extraordinary  care  which  the  people  of  New 
'England  bestow  on  genealogies,  and  town  and  county  histories, 
is  worthy  of  all  praise,  and  while  it  furnishes  testimony  of  the 
reverence  in  which  they  hold  their  ancestors,  it  is  evidence  also 
of  the  superior  literary  taste  which  prevails  in  that  section  of 
the  American  Union.  Future  historians  will  turn  to  these 
local  chronicles  as  mines  fraught  with  rich  materials,  for  the 
ultimate  value  of  facts  is  never  apparent  to  the  casual  eye,  but 
is  only  developed  by  time  and  a  studious  comparison  of  the  ele 
ments  of  history.  Dates,  names,  marriages,  funerals,  creeds, 
education,  sports,  customs,  apparel,  and  the  thousand  com- 
plexional  habits  and  peculiarities  of  a  people,  whether  they 
appear  trifling  or  grave,  important  or  insignificant,  cannot  be 
weighed  and  appreciated  fully  by  one  generation,  but  require 
many  succeeding  generations  to  bring  out  and  make  manifest 
their  intrinsic  and  relative  grade  in  the  scale  of  great  and 
small,  of  durable  or  transitory  things.  The  minute  and  ap- 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  3! 

parently  trivial  details  contained  in  these  unpretentious  books 
will  always  be  a  joy  and  well-spring  of  delight  to  the  historical 
and  critical  scholars  of  the  next  age. 

Thanks  to  these  old  chroniclers,  the  present  writer  has  been 
enabled  to  accompany  Matthew  Lyon  from  the  ship  that  bore 
the  youthful  emigrant  to  these  shores,  to  trace  his  steps  from 
New  York  to  his  first  home  in  Connecticut,  from  that  place  to 
his  second  home  in  the  same  Colony,  and  thence  across  the 
Green  Mountains  to  the  Valley  of  Lake  Champlain.  The  light 
shed  upon  these  early  events  in  his  career  in  America  by  Con 
necticut  writers  makes  lucid  his  own  otherwise  obscure  and 
hasty  statement  in  respect  to  the  same  period  which  afterwards 
in  1798  he  uttered  on  the  floor  of  Congress.  In  that  statement 
Colonel  Lyon  declared  that  he  had  lived  during  the  preceding 
twenty-four  years  in  Vermont,  and  that  prior  to  his  settlement 
there  he  had  lived  for  ten  years,  from  his  fifteenth  to  his 
twenty-fifth  year,  in  the  colony  of  Connecticut,  his  first  home 
in  America. 

With  these  threads  of  his  biography  in  hand,  the  hitherto 

disputed  question  of  his  age  is  set  at  rest,  and  the  exact  time 

of  his  coming  to  America  is  fixed.     After  having  solved  this 

difficulty  by  aid  of  old  records,  the  present  writer  was  fortunate 

( enough  to  have  his  conclusions  completely  verified  by  the 

'written  testimony  of  Matthew  Lyon  himself  and  his  own  wife, 

contained  in  his  family  record.     This  was  furnished  by  Mr.  F. 

A.  Wilson,  a  lawyer  of  Eddyville,  Kentucky,  the  husband  of  a 

great-granddaughter  of  Colonel  Lyon. 

Mr.  Wilson's  note  is  as  follows: 


32  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  Eddyville,  Kentucky, 

"  May  9th,  1881. 

"  Dear  Sir.— I  was  handed  this  morning  part  of  the  family  record  of 
Col.  Matthew  Lyon,  said  to  be  in  his  handwriting.  On  the  back  of  it 
is  the  record  of  his  age,  and  that  of  his  wife,  Beulah,  also  date  of  his 
death.  I  enclose  it  to  you.  I  promised  to  return  this  paper. 

"Yours  respectfully, 

"  F.  A.  WILSON."     ; 

The  fallowing  is  a  literal  copy  of  this  family  record: 
"  M  LYON—  ISSUE  20  VENTURE. 

"  Minerva,  born  May  27th,  1785 
"  Chittenden,  born  Feb'y  22d,  1787 
"  Aurelia,  born  June  27th,  1790 
"  Matthew,  born  April  i8th,  1792 
"  Noah  Chittn,  born  March  22d,  1794 
"  Deceased,  born  August  i6th,  Same 
"  Beulah,  born  July  26th,    1796." 

Giles,  born  ,  1803 

Eliza  Ann,  born  June  nth,  1805. 

[NOTE. — The  two  last  children,  Giles  and  Eliza  Ann,  are  not  in  the 
record,  but  are  added  by  author  from  data  furnished  by  Mrs.  Roe.] 

The  above  interesting  family  record  is  in  a  bold,  clear  hand, 
and  bears  the  marks  of  age.  It  was  undoubtedly  written  by 
Matthew  Lyon  himself.  The  author  has  compared  it  with 
numerous  letters  of  Colonel  Lyon  now  in  his  possession,  and 
the  writing  is  identical.  On  the  back  of  the  paper,  in  a  dif 
ferent  hand,  the  following  appears  : 

"  Col.  Matthew  Lyon 
Was  born  July  I4th,  1750, 
Beulah  Lyon 

Was  born  May  I5th,  1764. 
Col.  Matthew  Lyon 
Deceased  August  ist, 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS 


33 


This  endorsement,  which  also  bears  the  marks  of  age,  was 
probably  written  by  Mrs.  Beulah  Lyon  shortly  after  her  hus 
band's  death  in  1822.  The  dates  of  birth  and  death  in  the  case 
of  her  husband  are  given,  but  in  that  of  herself  only  the  date 
of  her  birth.  It  is  thus  probable  that  she  was  still  living  at  the 
time  the  endorsement  on  the  record  was  made,  otherwise  the 
date  of  her  death  would  likely  have  been  given  as  in  the  case 
of  her  husband.  And  if  she  were  living,  no  one  else  was  so  apt 
to  be  acquainted  with  the  facts  as  herself.  Mrs.  Lyon  survived 
her  husband  eighteen  months.  The  interesting  paper  was  re 
turned  to  Mr.  Wilson,  in  compliance  with  his  wishes,  after  an 
exact  copy  of  its  contents  had  been  made  for  this  biography. 

Nothing  further  is  needed  to  correct  the  mistakes  concerning 
the  age  of  Matthew  Lyon  in  every  hitherto  published  account 
of  his  life.  Mr.  Wharton,  author  of  the  celebrated  work  on 
American  Criminal  Law,  has  written  a  graphic  but  imperfect 
sketch  of  Lyon  in  his  valuable  volume  entitled  "  The  State 
Trials  of  the  United  States."  Speaking  of  the  old  patriot's 
trial  under  the  Sedition  act,  he  says :  "  Of  the  defendant  in 
this  case  himself,  who  for  many  years  was  so  famous  in  Ameri 
can  politics,  no  biography,  as  far  as  I  can  find,  has  been  writ 
ten."*  He  was  obliged  to  piece  out  his  narrative  from  the  very 
imperfect  recollections  of  Mr.  Henry  Stevens,  of  Barnet,  Ver 
mont,  and  to  collect  such  incidents  in  Colonel  Lyon's  life  as  he 
could  glean  from  vague  newspaper  accounts  of  his  career. 

The  present  is  the  first  attempt  to  write  Lyon's  life  from 
original  sources  which  has  ever  been  made.  Newspapers  and 
hearsay  reminiscences  have  been  the  only  dependence  of  all 
previous  writers  during  the  past  seventy  or  eighty  years  in 

a  P.  337- 


34  MATTHEW   LYON 

every  account  extant  of  his  remarkable  career.  The  task  of 
seeking  out  original  sources  of  information  has  been  entirely 
neglected.  A  career  full  of  historical  action  of  the  first  im 
portance,  and  replete  with  stirring  and  romantic  incidents,  de 
serves  to  be  better  known,  and  is  still  a  want,  as  it  was  when 
Wharton  wrote,  in  the  political  literature  of  the  country. 

An  American  sea  captain  engaged  in  that  mitigated  form  of 
the  barbarous  slave  trade,  the  transportation  of  indentured 
servants,  or  redemptioners,  from  Europe  to  the  American 
colonies,  is  generally  supposed  to  have  lured  Matthew  Lyon 
from  his  native  land  to  this  country.  This  cruel  traffic  long 
flourished  in  both  French  and  British  America,  and  was  only 
discontinued  in  several  parts  of  the  United  States  about  fifty  or 
sixty  years  ago.  Redemptioners  were  distinguished  from 
African  and  Indian  slaves  by  the  fact  that  one  system  was 
based  upon  apprenticeship  to  labor  for  a  term  of  years  in  satis 
faction  of  passage  or  ship  money,  on  the  completion  of  which 
the  debtor  redeemed  his  freedom;  while  the  other  system  was 
one  of  perpetual  bondage.  Under  the  Connecticut  Code  of 
1650,  commonly  called  the  Blue  Laws,  the  traffic  in  redemp 
tioners  flourished  vigorously,  and  not  only  in  the  Connecticut 
market,  but  in  all  the  Anglo-American  colonies,  poor  Euro 
peans  were  constantly  on  sale  in  the  seaport  towns  as  inden 
tured  servants.  Skippers  and  merchantmen  drove  a  thriving 
business  in  the  brutalizing  trade. 

The  story  as  handed  down  that  Matthew  Lyon  was  inveigled 
into  the  toils  of  one  of  these  rovers  of  the  deep  lacks  authentic 
ity.  No  doubt  the  captain  was  ready  enough  to  entrap  the 
boy  aboard  of  his  vessel,  for  that  was  in  the  line  of  his  trade, 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  35 

and  no  doubt  he  held  out  such  inducements  to  him  as  that  a 
clever  young  Dublin  printer  would  make  money  faster  in  the 
colonies  than  at  home;  but  Matthew  was  not  a  callow  youth 
to  be  caught  with  such  a  bait.  Higher  and  manlier  motives 
were  at  play  in  the  boy's  bosom.  The  terrible  sufferings  of 
the  Irish  people  at  that  day,  the  insurrection  of  the  White  Boys 
against  their  tyrants  and  would-be  destroyers,  the  probable 
execution  of  his  own  father  during  the  revolt,  and  the  impover 
ishment  and  desolation  which  no  doubt  overtook  his  father's 
family,  all  these  circumstances  furnish  stronger  motives  for 
his  exile  than  the  trumpery  lies  of  a  vulgar  sea  captain  playing 
on  the  boy's  excited  credulity.  What  cared  the  high-spirited 
Matthew  Lyon  whether  he  came  as  galley  slave  or  redemp- 
tioner,  provided  that  he  might  put  an  ocean  between  himself 
and  the  oppressors  who  had  brought  such  misery  home  to  his 
own  door?  But  the  true  story  of  his  emigration  has  never  yet 
been  told.  Fessenden's  caustic  verses  and  William  Cobbett's 
lampoons,  as  well  as  the  attacks  of  others  among  Lyon's  politi 
cal  enemies,  served  to  obscure  the  truth  out  of  sight. 

The  bitterness  of  early  party  contests,  notwithstanding  the 
pictures  of  idyllic  simplicity  in  the  olden  day  drawn  by  declaim- 
ers  of  the  Fourth  of  July  school,  was  as  intense,  if  not  so 
vulgar,  as  it  is  in  the  present  age.  The  Federalists  sneered  at 
Congressman  Lyon  as  an  Irish  adventurer  who  had  been 
bought  for  a  pair  of  stags.  Rhymers  of  the  John  Adams  party 
wrote  many  taunting  squibs  on  this  topic.  Lyon  was  too  sen 
sible  to  lose  his  temper  at  these  attacks,  and  too  proud  to  be 
ashamed  of  his  early  adversities.  He  declared  that  what  was 
said  about  the  stags  was  perfectly  true,  and  his  favorite  im 
precation  was  "  by  the  bulls  that  redeemed  me."  Fessenden, 


36  MATTHEW   LYON 

the  most  satirical  of  the  Federalist  poets,  in  a  smart  song, 
called  the  "  Dagon  of  Democracy/'  the  name  he  gave  to  Lyon, 
refers  to  this  incident  in  the  following  lines: 

"  Tis  said  that  he  brags 
How  one  pair  of  stags, 

Erst  paid  for  his  passage  from  Europe; 
But  the  price  of  a  score 
Would  scarce  send  him  o'er, 

And  pay  for  his  hangman  a  new  rope! 

Chorus. 

"  O  then  ye  are  lucky, 
Good  men  of  Kentucky, 

To  choose  spitting  Matt  for  your  idol; 
Come  frolic  and  caper, 
By  the  blaze  of  his  taper 

And  sing  fol  de  rol,  diddle  di  dol." 

Petty  assaults  of  this  kind,  and  there  were  many  of  them, 
sealed  Lyon's  lips  on  the  subject,  and  uncontradicted  malevo 
lence  had  the  whole  field  to  itself.  False  stories  of  his 
emigration  and  apprenticeship  were  spread  abroad  on  all 
sides.  Had  he  denied  that  he  came  as  a  redemptioner,  and 
entered  into  explanations,  his  enemies  might  have  said  that  he 
was  seeking  to  parry  the  force  of  their  blows.  He,  therefore, 
remained  silent,  and  his  epigrammatic  oath  about  the  bulls 
that  redeemed  him  served  to  give  color  to  the  slanders  of  his 
enemies.  The  fact  that  he  did  not  set  out  for  America  as  a 
redemptioner  at  all,  but  was  reduced  to  that  state  of  servitude 
by  the  bad  faith  of  the  captain  with  whom  he  sailed,  never 
reached  the  eye  of  the  general  public  during  Colonel  Lyon's 
lifetime. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  37 

His  late  venerable  daughter,  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Roe,  of  Ghana, 
Ogle  county,  Illinois,  communicated  to  the  present  writer  in 
the  year  1881,  the  true  history  of  her  father's  emigration  to 
America.  This  account  is  contradictory  in  several  important 
particulars  of  every  other  one  on  the  subject. 

In  all  other  accounts  the  fact  is  assumed  as  conceded  that 
Lyon  was  a  penniless  redemptioner  who  came  to  America  on 
stipulated  terms  mutually  agreed  to  between  the  captain  and 
himself  before  the  vessel  sailed.  Mrs.  Roe  corrects  this,  and 
declares  that  her  father  was  cheated  out  of  his  money  and 
services,  and  sold  as  a  redemptioner  by  the  master  of  the 
vessel  in  violation  of  the  agreement  between  them. 

Matthew  while  living  in  Dublin  had  read  a  great  deal  about 
the  new  world.  In  1757  his  townsman,  the  great  Edmund 
Burke,  published  "  An  Account  of  the  European  Settlements 
in  America  "  in  two  volumes,0  in  which,  with  a  master's  hand, 
he  depicted  the  rising  glories  of  the  colonies.  Robertson's 
"  History  of  America  "  is  to  some  extent  a  compilation  from 
Burke's  Account.  Compared  with  misgoverned  and  famine- 
stricken  Ireland,  the  American  colonies  presented  a  contrast 
too  marked  to  escape  the  quick  eye  of  Lyon.  The  evictions 
begun  in  1762  among  the  Irish  Cottiers  to  make  room  for 
alien  speculators  still  continued  undiminished  in  1765,  when 
Lyon  left  the  country.  To  his  mother  he  often  expressed  the 
wish  to  come  to  America,  but  she  invariably  refused  her  con 
sent.  Recognizing  his  talents,  she  indulged  in  day-dreams  of 
future  greatness  for  him  in  Ireland,  and  mother's  love  no  doubt 
strengthened  her  opposition.  But  the  boy's  mind  was  in 
flamed  not  only  by  Burke's  account,  but  by  the  letters  of 

°  A  Dublin  edition  was  printed  in  1762. 


38  MATTHEW    LYON 

another  of  his  countrymen,  the  celebrated  George  Berkeley, 
Bishop  of  Cloyne,  who  came  to  New  England  in  1728,  and 
passed  about  two  years  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island.  Bishop 
Berkeley's  noble  verses  on  the  prospect  of  planting  arts  and 
learning  in  America,  the  last  stanza  of  which  "  Westward  the 
course  of  empire  takes  its  way,"  is  so  often  misquoted,  must 
have  appealed  powerfully  to  Lyon's  ardent  imagination.  Hav 
ing  resolved  to  quit  the  down-trodden  land  of  his  birth,  his 
resolution  became  more  firmly  fixed  by  opposition,  and  at 
length  he  determined  to  put  it  into  execution  at  the  first 
opportunity.  That  opportunity  soon  offered.  American  sea- 
captains  were  always  on  the  lookout  for  Irish  youths,  and 
Lyon  met  one  of  them  at  Dublin  in  1765  who  commanded  a 
fine  vessel  about  to  sail  for  New  York.  The  captain  offered 
Lyon  a  free  passage  in  place  of  wages,  in  consideration  of 
which  the  youth  was  to  serve  as  cabin  boy  during  the  trip 
across  the  Atlantic.  These  terms  were  accepted  by  Lyon. 
He  was  the  possessor  of  a  guinea  which  he  placed  in  the 
captain's  hands  for  safe  keeping  until  they  should  arrive  at 
New  York. 

The  day  before  the  vessel  sailed  he  went  in  the  gray  of  the 
morning  to  his  mother's  room  to  gaze  for  the  last  time  upon 
his  beloved  parent.  Knowing  that  a  formal  leave  taking  was 
out  of  the  question,  he  entered  on  tip-toe,  for  he  was  well  aware 
that  on  the  slightest  intimation  of  his  purpose  she  would  thwart 
it  at  all  hazards.  Long  and  sadly  he  gazed  upon  the  sleeping 
woman,  the  solitary  link  that  bound  him,  to  his  home.  He 
described  the  scene  in  after  years  to  his  family  and  friends  in 
Vermont  as  one  of  the  saddest  trials  of  his  life.  Between  filial 
love  and  the  aspiration  to  escape  from  bondage  in  Ireland  to 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  39 

freedom  in  America,  the  struggle  was  long  and  bitter.  "  His 
nature,"  says  his  daughter,  "  was  very  sympathetic  and  affec 
tionate."  Commanding  with  difficulty  his  pent-up  feelings,  Mat 
thew  took  a  last  silent  farewell  of  his  mother,  and  passed  out  of 
her  presence  forever.  Gathering  up  a  small  parcel  of  his  cloth 
ing  he  hastened  to  the  vessel,  and  placed  himself  under  the 
captain's  orders.  The  latter  suspecting  that  a  rescue  might  be 
attempted  by  the  boy's  friends,  secreted  him  in  the  hold  of  the 
vessel,  where  he  remained  concealed  all  that  day. 

The  late  Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Roe,  of  Ghana,  Illinois,  in  a 
letter  to  the  author,  has  furnished  full  particulars  of  her  father's 
departure  from  Ireland.  I  will  let  her  tell  the  story  in  her  own 

W0rds:  "Ghana,  Ogle  County,  Illinois, 

"  May  24th,  1881. 

"  Dear  Sir. — It  is  with  pleasure  I  attempt  to  answer  your  polite 
letter  in  my  homely  fashion.  You  cannot  expect  much  from  one  so 
old  and  infirm,  76  the  nth  of  next  June.  I  am  very  much  pleased  that 
one  who  is  so  capable  and  so  interested  has  undertaken  to  write  my 
dear  Father's  history.  I  have  often  wondered  that  it  had  not  been 
done  by  some  of  his  political  friends. 

"  In  the  first  place,  I  must  say  that  I  know  but  very  little  about  his 
home  and  friends  in  Ireland.  I  know  I  have  often  heard  my  dear 
Mother  say  his  home  was  in  Dublin,  and  that  his  parents  were 
wealthy.  My  Father  came  to  America  when  he  was  fourteen  years 
old.  He  read  a  great  deal  about  the  New  World,  as  it  was  called  then, 
and  he  had  a  great  desire  to  come  over  to  America.  But  he  was  idol 
ized  by  his  parents, a  and  they  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  his  coming 
to  the  new  country,  and  leaving  his  good  home  so  young.  They  had 
taken  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  educate  him.  He  was  studious  and  pro 
gressed  very  fast,  and  they  were  in  hopes  that  he  would  make  a  great 


»As  Lyon's  father  was  probably  put  to  death  at  the  time  of  the 
rising  of  the  White  Boys,  years  before  the  son's  emigration,  Mrs. 
Roe's  use  of  the  plural,  parents,  strengthens  Collins's  statement  that 
Lyon's  mother  was  twice  married. 


4O  MATTHEW   LYON 

man  at  home  if  he  stayed  there.  But  the  more  he  read  the  more 
anxious  he  was  to  come,  and  the  more  his  parents  opposed  it.  At 
length  he  resolved  to  steal  away  and  come. 

"  There  were  a  great  many  young  men  coming  then  who  were  not 
able  to  pay  their  passage,  and  they  arranged  it  with  the  captains  of  the 
different  vessels  that  when  they  arrived  in  port  they  would  be  inden 
tured  until  the  age  of  twenty-one  to  pay  their  board  and  passage  to 
America.  Father  thought  he  would  do  that  rather  than  not  come. 
He  had  in  his  possession  one  guinea.  But  he  made  arrangements  with 
the  captain  of  a  very  fine  vessel  to  be  cabin  boy  for  his  passage.  The 
vessel  was  to  sail  the  next  day.  He  told  the  captain  he  would  have  to 
secrete  him,  for  his  Father  would  search  every  vessel  at  the  wharf  for 
him.  The  captain  did  so,  and  when  his  Father  came  to  the  vessel  in 
search  of  him,  he  heard  his  voice  calling,  '  Matthew,  my  dear  boy, 
come  to  the  embrace  of  your  Father.  Don't  leave  your  parents  and 
go  you  know  not  where.'  And  Father  would  have  gone  to  him,  but 
that  he  was  secured  so  he  could  not  get  to  him.  He  was  very  sympa 
thetic  and  affectionate. 

"  The  vessel  sailed  next  morning,  and  bore  him  out  of  port,  and  he 
never  saw  his  parents  again.  He  had  such  implicit  confidence  in  the 
captain  that  he  gave  his  guinea  to  him  for  safekeeping.  But  when  he 


a George  Taylor,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  from 
Pennsylvania,  was  a  redemptioner.  "  He  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1716, 
so  poor,"  says  Thomas  D'Arcy  McGee  in  his  "  History  of  the  Irish 
Settlers  in  North  America,"  "  that  his  services  were  sold  on  his  ar 
rival  to  pay  the  expenses  of  his  passage  out,"  p.  68.  Also  see  "  The 
Biographical  Cyclopedia  of  Representative  Men  of  Maryland  and  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,"  p.  380,  published  at  Baltimore  by  the  National  Bio 
graphical  Publishing  Co.,  1879,  which  says  Daniel  Dulany's  father,  Daniel 
Dulany,  Sr.,  was  a  cousin  of  Rev.  Patrick  Dulany,  the  Dean  of  Down, 
and  was  born  in  1686,  in  Queens  County,  Ireland.  Owing  to  his 
father's  second  marriage  and  an  irreconcilable  quarrel  with  his  step 
mother,  he  ran  away  while  quite  a  lad  from  the  University  of  Dublin, 
indentured  himself  to  pay  the  expenses  of  his  passage  and  came  to 
Maryland.  Accidentally  his  education  and  breeding  were  discovered 
by  the  gentleman  who  purchased  him,  and  he  soon  rose  to  his  proper 
social  level.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1710.  The  case  of  Dulany 
lends  plausibility  to  Mrs.  Roe's  story  that  her  father's  parents  were 
wealthy. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  4! 

got  to  port  the  captain  indentured  him  just  as  he  did  the  other  boys 
and  kept  his  guinea;  only  that  as  he  was  such  a  large,  fine  looking 
boy  he  passed  him  off  on  sale  for  eighteen  years  old.  He  let  them  go 
to  the  highest  bidder.  So  he  was  only  indentured  for  three  years 
instead  of  five.  He  worked  out  part  of  his  time,  and  bought  the  rest 
of  it,  and  commenced  life  for  himself.  He  worked  hard  at  low  wages 
and  paid  his  boss,  for  he  had  accumulated  some  property. 

"  He  was  married  when  he  was  twenty-one  or  twenty-two  years  old 
to  a  Miss  Hosford.  They  had  four  children,  and  then  she  died.  He 
lived  a  widower  about  a  year,  and  was  then  married  to  my  dear 
Mother,  who  was  the  third  daughter  of  Governor  Thomas  Chittendeti, 
and  the  widow  of  George  Galusha,  a  son  of  the  second  governor  of 
Vermont"  *  *  * 

*'  Yours  Very  Sincerely, 

"  Eliza  A.  Roe." 

It  appears  from  this  interesting  and  authentic  contribution 
to  the  history  of  iMatthew  Lyon's  early  life  that  he  shipped 
from  Ireland,  not  as  a  redemptioner  at  all,  but  as  cabin  boy 
to  the  master  of  the  vessel,  who  robbed  him  of  the  pittance  of 
money  he  held  in  trust  for  him,  and  sold  him  as  a  redemp 
tioner,  in  violation  of  the  agreement  to  give  him  a  free  passage 
to  America  in  lieu  of  wages  as  an  employee  of  the  vessel. 
Having  cheated  young  Lyon,  it  was  not  surprising  that  this 
trafficker  in  human  flesh,  even  when  trying  to  make  some 
amends  for  his  injustice  to  him,  took  care  to  practice  his  gen 
erosity  at  the  e.xpense  of  another,  and  deceived  Jabez  Bacon, 
the  purchaser  of  the  boy's  service,  in  regard  to  his  age.  It  is 
probable  the  incorrect  idea  that  Lyon  was  born  in  1746 
originated  with  this  captain's  false  statement  in  adding  several 
years  to  the  boy's  true  age. 

In  relation  to  this  voyage  an  additional  occurrence  is  related 
by  Rev.  Pliny  H.  White  in  his  Lyon  address  before  the  Ver 
mont  Historical  Society.  "  During  the  passage,"  says  the  Ver- 


42  MATTHEW   LYON 

mont  antiquarian,  "  he  (Lyon)  was  attacked  by  violent 
sickness,  and  was  delirious  for  many  days.  On  his  recovery 
he  found  himself  destitute  even  of  so  much  clothing  as  was 
needful  to  supply  the  place  of  that  which  his  disease  had 
rendered  unfit  for  further  use;  and  his  necessities  were  supplied 
from  the  scanty  wardrobes  of  some  abandoned  women  who 
were  his  fellow  passengers,  and  who,  true  to  the  kindly  instincts 
which  were  in  womanly  nature,  even  when  most  depraved,  had 
tenderly  ministered  to  him  in  his  sickness  when  all  others  de 
serted  him,  and  now,  out  of  their  own  deep  poverty,  supplied 
his  yet  greater  need."  Mr.  Matthew  S.  Lyon,  of  Evansville, 
Indiana,  mentions  the  same  incident  in  the  letter  respecting  his 
grandfather's  autobiography. 

But  to  those  acquainted  with  the  brutalities  and  outrages 
practised  upon  steerage  passengers  in  emigrant  ships,  how  far 
the  epithet  "  abandoned  "  is  justly  applied  by  Mr.  White  to 
those  women,  may  be  an  open  question.  So  recently  as  the 
year  1860  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  passed  stringent 
laws  for  the  protection  of  helpless  females  from  inhumanity 
and  brutal  violence  at  the  hands  of  officers  and  seamen  of 
emigrant  vessels.  Those  who  are  inclined  to  know  more  of 
the  iniquities  of  those  marine  dens,  and  of  the  peril  to  which 
helpless  but  virtuous  female  immigrants  were  formerly  ex 
posed,  will  do  well  to  consult  the  work  of  the  late  John  Francis 
Maguire,  M.  P.,  called  "  The  Irish  in  America."  The  title  of 
the  United  States  statute  is  as  follows :  "  To  regulate  the  car 
riage  of  passengers  in  steamships  and  other  vessels,  for  the 
better  protection  of  female  passengers,"  and  sufficiently  shows 
what  evil  it  was  intended  to  arrest. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  43 

Vessels  carrying  redemptioners  in  the  last  century  were  more 
open  to  the  charge  of  licentiousness  than  those  of  a  more  recent 
date,  against  which  the  penalties  of  the  law  were  denounced  in 
1860.  Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan,  a  name  imperishably 
associated  with  the  eloquence  of  John  Philpot  Curran,  passed  a 
few  years  in  America  towards  the  end  of  the  last  century,  and 
bears  testimony  to  the  evils  endured  in  the  white  slave  ships  by 
Irish  and  Dutch  redemptioners.  In  a  letter  to  his  wife,  written 
at  Wilmington,  Delaware,  November  5,  1797,  Mr.  Rowan  says: 

"  The  members  of  the  Society  for  the  Abolition  of  Slavery 
have  not  the  least  objection  to  buying  an  Irishman  or  Dutch 
man,  and  will  chaffer  with  himself  or  the  captain  to  get  him 
indented  at  about  the  eighth  part  of  the  wages  they  would  have 
to  pay  a  country  born.  But  to  tell  truth,  they  who  are  thus 
purchased  generally  do  themselves  justice,  and  run  away  before 
half  their  term  is  up.  This,  then,  like  every  other  abuse,  falls 
hard  only  on  the  best  subjects. "a  In  another  letter  Mr.  Rowan 
writes :  "  Swarms  of  Irish  are  expected  here  by  the  spring 
vessels,  and  the  brisk  trade  for  Irish  slaves  here  is  to  make  up 
for  the  low  price  of  flax  seed!  "& 

A  more  particular  description  of  this  barbarous  traffic  is 
found  in  Fearon's  "  Sketches  of  America/'  published  at  Lon 
don  in  1818.  "  A  practice  which  has  been  often  referred  to  in 
connection  with  this  country,"  says  Fearon,  "  naturally  excited 
my  attention.  It  is  that  of  individuals  emigrating  from  Europe 
without  money,  and  paying  for  their  passage  by  binding  them 
selves  to  the  captain,  who  receives  the  produce  of  their  labor 


a "  Autobiography  of  Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan/'  p.  3118. 
blbid,  p.  318. 


44  MATTHEW  LYON 

for  a  certain  number  of  years.  The  price  for  women  is  about 
$70,  men  $80,  boys  $60." 

The  year,  but  not  the  month,  of  Lyon's  arrival  in  America  is 
known.  He  came  in  1765,  the  year  made  memorable  by  the 
passage  of  the  Stamp  Act.  Mr.  Rowan,  writing  in  1797,  said 
the  spring  vessels  brought  swarms  of  Irish.  Lyon  probably 
came  in  the  spring.  For  this  opinion  there  is  a  further  reason : 
The  I4th  of  July  was  his  birthday;  he  must  have  arrived  before 
that  day,  since,  if  he  came  after  it  he  was  then  in  his  sixteenth 
year,  which  he  himself  said  was  not  the  case,  as  he  lived  in 
Connecticut  from  his  fifteenth  to  his  twenty-fifth  year." 

The  town  of  Ancient  Woodbury  enjoyed  the  distinction  at 
that  day  of  being  the  home  of  the  wealthiest  merchant  in  Con 
necticut.  This  was  the  celebrated  Jabez  Bacon,  whose  descen 
dants  have  been  so  numerous  and  respectable  in  that  State. 
That  careful  historian  Hinman  says,  in  his  "  Historical  Collec 
tions,"  that  Bacon  left  an  estate  valued  at  nine  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars.  The  accounts  and  traditions  of  the  man  which 
have  come  down  to  us  represent  him  as  an  individual  not  less 
remarkable  for  the  originality  of  his  character  than  for  the 
boldness  of  his  operations.  Some  of  his  daring  speculations 
read  like  the  exploits  of  an  Astor  or  a  Vanderbilt  or  Jay  Gould 
of  the  present  age,  rather  than  those  of  a  country  storekeeper 
in  a  little  Connecticut  village  a  century  and  a  quarter  ago. 

Mr.  Bacon  made  frequent  visits  to  New  York,  where  he  was 
a  lion  among  the  merchants  in  those  primitive  days.  The  lead 
ing  trait  of  his  character  seems  to  have  been  extraordinary 
self-reliance.  He  was  known,  says  Cothren,  to  have  struck 

°Annals  of  Congress,  1798,  p.  1025. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  45 

bargains  in  five  minutes  upon  which  the  loss  or  gain  of  a 
fortune  turned. 

It  was  with  this  enterprising  man  that  Matthew  Lyon's 
destiny  brought  him  face  to  face  upon  his  arrival  at  New  York. 
Bold,  impetuous,  and  daring  in  the  extreme  himself,  the  young 
Wicklow  emigre,  by  a  rare  felicity  of  fortune,  attracted  the 
keen  eye  of  the  Connecticut  merchant,  in  whom  Lyon  saw 
many  of  his  own  qualities  reflected,  but  on  the  part  of  Bacon 
they  were  chastened  and  directed  by  matured  judgment  and 
the  cool  New  England  temperament.  The  meeting  between 
them  must  have  been  an  agreeable  one,  for  their  affinities  no 
doubt  drew  them  towards  each  other  from  the  first.  But  there 
are  no  particulars  of  this  interesting  meeting,  only  the  bare 
statement  of  the  fact  itself  by  Cothren,  that  "  Matthew  Lyon 
was  assigned  on  his  arrival  in  New  York  to  Jabez  Bacon,  of 
Woodbury,  who  brought  him  home."® 

In  after  years  Lyon  became  the  founder  of  a  town  in  Ver 
mont  and  of  another  in  Kentucky ;  United  States  mail  contrac 
tor  for  the  Western  States  and  territories;  and  the  originator 
of  newspapers,  mills,  factories,  shipyards,  and  other  industries. 
Who  knows  how  much  he  owed  to  old  Jabez  Bacon,  whose 
pluck  and  tireless  activity  were  constant  objects  of  admiration 
to  such  an  apt  boy?  The  contagious  influence  and  example  of 
such  a  man  must  have  been  an  excellent  school  for  the  young 
apprentice.  Lyon  would  have  become  a  good  business  man, 
though  he  had  never  known  Bacon;  whether  he  would  have 
done  so  many  things  as  well,  and  left  his  impress  upon  them 
all  as  deeply,  without  such  a  guide  in  the  beginning,  may  very 
reasonably  be  doubted.  Contact  of  the  right  sort  is  beneficial 


"  History  of  Ancient  Woodbury,"  Vol.  I,  p  320. 


46  MATTHEW  LYOK 

to  every  one;  to  a  youth  of  ardent  and  impressionable  nature, 
its  value  as  an  educational  influence  cannot  be  overestimated. 

About  the  end  of  April,  1765,  news  of  the  Stamp  Act  reached 
New  York.  It  was  passed  March  22d.  From  that  time  to  the 
close  of  the  year  the  aroused  colonies  were  preparing  for  war, 
and  in  many  places  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty,"  a  title  derived  from 
a  passage  in  Colonel  Barre's  celebrated  speech  in  the  British 
Parliament,  were  in  open  rebellion  against  the  royal  authority. 
A  Colonial  Congress,  the  first  one  of  the  revolutionary  era, 
met  this  year  in  New  York,  and  adopted  a  spirited  declaration 
of  the  rights  and  grievances  of  the  Colonies.  A  petition  for 
redress  was  dispatched  to  George  the  Third,  and  energetic 
memorials  were  sent  out  to  each  House  of  the  British  Parlia 
ment.  On  the  evening  of  the  day  appointed  for  the  Stamp 
Act  to  go  into  operation  a  riot  took  place  in  New  York.  The 
"  Sons  of  Liberty,"  in  two  companies,  marched  through  the 
streets  demanding  the  surrender  to  them  of  the  obnoxious 
stamps.  But  the  distributor  had  resigned  and  refused  to  touch 
the  stamps,  and  Colden,  the  commandant,  had  taken  them  into 
the  fort.  Colden  was  hung  in  effigy  by  the  people,  and  his 
carriage  was  burned  under  the  muzzles  of  his  own  guns. 
General  Gage,  the  commander-in-chief  in  America,  who 
then  happened  to  be  on  the  spot,  wisely  advised  Colden  to  sur 
render  the  stamps  to  the  infuriated  populace.  They  were 
accordingly  given  up  to  the  Mayor  and  Corporation,  and 
deposited  in  the  City  Hall.a 

Such  were  the  scenes  transpiring  on  all  sides  when  Matthew 
Lyon  arrived  in  the  new  world.  As  he  left  the  ship  and  passed 
through  the  streets  of  New  York  in  company  with  Jabez 

"  Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  II,  pp. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  47 

Bacon,  sounds  of  the  popular  commotion  must  have  reached 
the  ears  of  the  astonished  boy.  They  were  not  unfamiliar 
sounds  to  him,  for  he  had  heard  them  in  his  native  Wicklow, 
with  the  sinister  accompaniments  of  famine,  chains  and  the 
gallows  superadded — the  protests  of  a  people  against  tyranny. 
'  He  had  come  three  thousand  miles  across  the  sea  to  escape 
from  that  tyranny,  and  now  upon  his  arrival  in  America,  its 
black  shadow,  which  he  thought  he  had  left  behind  him  forever 
in  the  old  world,  was  enveloping  in  gloom  the  new.  The  life 
of  his  father  had  been  forfeited  to  it;  his  home  had  been  ren 
dered  desolate  by  it ;  and  here  it  was  in  New  York  as  in  Ireland, 
lifting  its  menacing  front  athwart  his  path.  Filled  with  dismay 
must  have  been  the  heart  of  the  young  exile.  But  there  was 
this  comforting  difference,  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty "  were  in 
arms,  and  the  adherents  of  England  were  fleeing  terror-stricken 
from  the  wrath  of  a  people  resolved  to  break  the  chains  of  the 
oppressor  before  they  could  be  riveted,  upon  them. 

Lyon's  stay  in  New  York  was  probably  short,  for  Jabez 
Bacon  was  too  much  engrossed  in  mercantile  pursuits  to  take 
any  interest  in  patriotic  affairs,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  made 
his  purchases  he  was  off  again  to  Connecticut.  Cothren  says 
that  "  an  aged  merchant  of  New  York  told  him  many  years 
ago  that  Mr.  Bacon  would  sometimes  visit  his  store,  make  him 
a  bid  for  a  whole  tier  of  shelf  goods,  from  floor  to  ceiling, 
amounting  in  value  to  thousands  of  dollars,  and  have  the  whole 
boxed  and  shipped  in  an  hour  to  the  sloop  at  the  foot  of  Peck 
Slip,  bound  for  Derby."" 

Woodbury  is  situated  in  the  Pomperaug  Valley,  in  Litchfield 
county,  Connecticut,  fourteen  miles  from  the  New  York  State 

« "  History  of  Ancient  Woodbury,"  Vol.  I,  p.  353. 


48  MATTHEW  LYON 

line,  and  ninety  miles  from  the  city  of  New  York.  The  young 
emigrant  was  soon  established  in  his  new  home  in  the  "  land  of 
steady  habits,"  an  apprentice  of  the  most  enterprising  mer 
chant  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut. 

This  town  was  the  birthplace  of  many  revolutionary  heroes. 
Among  the  number  were  the  future  uncle  by  marriage  of  Mat 
thew  Lyon,  Ethan  Allen  himself,  the  Ajax  Telamon  of  the* 
Green  Mountain  Boys;  also  Seth  Warner,  their  Hercules  in 
stature  and  prowess;  and  Remember  Baker,  worthy  kins 
man  and  associate  of  both.  The  note  of  preparation  for  the 
great  struggle  was  already  heard  in  Ancient  Woodbury,  and 
Matthew  Lyon  began  to  learn  his  first  lessons  in  the  cause  of 
freedom  among  the  hardy  sons  of  the  Connecticut  mountains. 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  49 


CHAPTER   II. 


THE    COLONIES    THROW   OFF    THE    YOKE   OF    ENGLAND  —  CHIEF 

JUSTICE    MARSHALL'S    ERROR  —  GATHERING    UP    THE    LOST 

THREADS  IN  MATTHEW  LYON's  EARLY  LIFE  IN  CONNECTICUT 
AND  VERMONT  —  HIS  FIRST  MARRIAGE  —  PRESIDENT  DWIGHT 
FORGETS  HIS  USUAL  URBANITY. 


HERE  were  not  wanting  some,"  said  the  elder  Pitt,  in 
his  celebrated  speech  on  the  right  of  taxing  America, 
"  when  I  had  the  honor  to  serve  his  Majesty,  to  propose  to 
me  to  burn  my  fingers  with  an  American  stamp  act.  With  the 
enemy  at  their  back,  with  our  bayonets  at  their  breasts,  in  the 
day  of  their  distress,  perhaps  the  Americans  would  have  sub 
mitted  to  the  imposition;  but  it  would  have  been  taking  an 
ungenerous  and  unjust  advantage  of  them."0  The  great  Com 
moner  was  mistaken,  not  only  in  his  opinion  of  the  probable 
result,  but  in  the  motives  which  prevented  the  experiment. 
Magnanimity  or  justice  to  the  Colonies  had  nothing  to  do  with 
England's  forbearance.  During  the  old  French  war  the 
British  government  feared  to  encounter  the  danger  of  such  a 
step,  for  on  its  American  Colonies  the  happy  issue  of  the  war 
mainly  depended.  Had  a  stamp  act  been  imposed  at  an  earlier 
day,  England  and  not  France  would  have  been  driven  out  of 
America.  Robert  Walpole,  the  predecessor  of  Pitt,  main- 

«  Speech  of  William  Pitt  on  the  Right  of  Taxing  America,  delivered 
in  the  House  of  Commons  January  14,  1766. 


5O  MATTHEW   LYON 

tained  that  everything  had  its  price,  but  with  his  usual  hard 
sense  he  made  an  exception  of  the  liberties  of  the  Colonies. 
Contenting  himself  with  their  trade,  he  dryly  remarked  that  he 
would  leave  the  taxation  of  the  Americans  to  some  of  his  suc 
cessors  who  had  more  courage  and  less  regard  for  commerce.* 

From  the  dawn  of  English  colonization  in  America,  it  was 
the  cherished  scheme  of  the  crown  to  establish  a  complete 
supremacy  in  the  plantations.  Evidences  of  this  design  are 
to  be  found  everywhere  and  at  all  times  in  Colonial  history. 
During  the  reigns  of  James  the  First,  and  Charles  the  First, 
every  measure  of  government  in  America  was  carried  by  royal 
prerogative.  But  the  Colonists  were  then  too  insignificant  in 
resources  and  numbers  to  excite  the  cupidity  of  the  mother 
country.  The  civil  wars  coming  on  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  the  First  served  to  distract  attention  from 
America,  and  while  the  Roundheads  and  Cavaliers  were  im 
bruing  their  hands  in  each  other's  blood,  the  plantations  grew 
apace  in  population  and  prosperity.  Cromwell  concerned  him 
self  less  about  Colonial  affairs  than  with  the  domestic  compli 
cations  of  the  Commonwealth  and  Protectorate,  and  was  so 
unfavorably  impressed  with  America  that  he  invited  the  Puri 
tans  of  New  England  to  leave  the  savage  wilderness,  and  take 
possession  of  the  plundered  estates  in  Ireland.5 

With  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  under  Charles  the  Second 
began  the  system  of  commercial  oppression,  for  the  trade  of  the 
Colonies  had  now  become  sufficiently  great  to  be  made  the 
subject  of  monopoly.  To  regulate  and  restrain  it  was  the  first 
step;  to  impose  duties  on  it  the  next  one.  In  vain  did  the 

^Marshall's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  Vol.  II. 
6Lingard's  "  History  of  England,"  VIIL,  176. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  5! 

Colonies  struggle  against  English  monopoly.  Charles,  trust 
ing  less  to  prerogative  than  parliamentary  enactments,  brought 
into  full  play  the  Navigation  Act,  and  cramped  the  trade  of 
America  by  duties,  restrictions  and  penalties  of  the  most  exact 
ing  nature.  The  Colonies  were  yet  too  weak  to  offer  effectual 
resistance.  If  this  external  oppression  had  been  followed  up 
by  internal  monopoly,  or  the  imposition  by  Parliament  of  an 
inland  tax  upon  the  plantations,  the  last  safeguard  would  have 
been  swept  away,  the  power  of  self-protection  would  have  been 
at  an  end,  the  freemen  of  the  American  provinces  would  have 
become  the  veriest  slaves  of  England.  It  was  providential  that 
the  right  was  not  then  set  up  to  levy  taxes  for  revenue  on 
America,  for  resistance  at  that  day  was  out  of  the  question. 
With  equal  rigor,  but  less  ability,  James  the  Second  pursued 
the  oppressive  commercial  policy  of  Charles  towards  the 
Colonies.  He  made  the  mistake,  however,  of  trusting  to  pre 
rogative,  where  the  last  King,  with  better  statesmanship,  relied 
on  the  co-operation  of  Parliament.  The  loss  of  his  throne 
rendered  the  hostility  of  James  to  the  Americans  powerless  for 
injury. 

Upon  the  accession  of  William  of  Orange,  America,  for  the 
first  time,  was  in  a  position  to  dictate  to  England  a  policy  pro- 
motive  of  provincial  rights  and  liberties.  Hitherto  it  had  been 
the  thrall  of  England;  now  it  became  the  bulwark  of  British 
domination.  From  this  time  forward,  for  a  period  of  seventy- 
five  years,  down  to  1763,  England  and  France  were  in  an 
almost  uninterrupted  struggle  for  supremacy  in  America.  The 
commands  of  the  Crown  upon  the  Colonies  for  men  and 
money,  during  the  progress  of  these  wars,  were  about  as  effec 
tive  as  afterwards  were  the  recommendations  of  the  old  Con- 


52  MATTHEW   LYON 

federated  government  to  the  thirteen  States.  The  Colonial  As 
semblies  obeyed  the  requisitions  or  not,  as  seemed  to  them 
most  convenient.  Both  Crownvand  Parliament  chafed  under  this 
defiant  growth  of  liberty  in  the  Colonies,  but  as  their  aid  in  the 
wars  with  the  French  was  indispensable,  the  hazardous  experi 
ment  of  taxing  them,  however  near  the  English  heart  the  desire 
might  be,  never  was  ventured  upon  in  a  single  instance.  That 
England  longed  for  the  favorable  hour  when  she  might  un- 
resisted  wield  autocratic  power  over  her  American  provinces 
cannot  for  a  moment  be  doubted  by  anyone  who  closely  ex 
amines  the  events  of  those  days. 

In  1701  and  again  in  1714,  Parliament  attempted  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  charter  and  proprietary  governments.  Still  another 
and  more  dangerous  effort  was  made  by  Parliament  in  1748 
to  give  to  the  King's  colonial  instructions  the  force  of  law. 
Finally  the  secretary  for  foreign  affairs  and  the  English  Board 
of  Trade  proposed  in  1753,  with  the  same  ulterior  designs  upon 
the  liberties  of  America,  a  plan  of  colonial  union,  which  was 
formulated  by  Franklin  the  next  year  in  the  Albany  Conven 
tion,  but  rejected  by  the  Colonial  Assemblies  on  the  one  hand, 
as  detrimental  to  their  freedom,  and  by  the  English  govern 
ment  on  the  other,  for  the  opposite  reason  that  it  dangerously 
enlarged  it.a 

The  exigencies  of  England  in  that  age  enabled  the  Colonies 
to  baffle  all  these  attempts  upon  their  liberties.  Fear,  and  not 
affection,  withheld  the  vengeance  of  the  mother  country. 
English  statesmen,  with  Lord  Chatham  at  their  head,  might 
descant  upon  British  magnanimity;  but  the  war-cry  of  New 
France,  intermingled  with  the  war-whoop  of  the  Algonquins, 

oHildreth's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  II,  p.  444- 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  53 

proved  the  potent  arbitrator  between  the  Anglo-American 
Colonies  and  the  vengeance  of  their  loving  mother.0  Eng 
land's  magnanimity  was  brought  to  the  test  in  1763,  when,  by 
the  aid  of  the  Colonists,  the  English  arms  were  victorious,  and 
the  French  power  in  America  was  destroyed.  Hardly  had  the 
treaty  of  Paris  been  signed  when  England  gave  notice  of  her 
tender  purpose,  now  that  the  hated  French  were  out  of  the  way, 
to  carry  through  Parliament  an  American  Stamp  Act,  and  to 
crush  the  Colonies  between  the  upper  and  nether  millstones 
of  commercial  high  protective  restrictions  and  internal  mo 
nopoly.  Taxes  were  to  be  raised  in  America  for  purposes  of 
revenue  by  the  arbitrary  fiat  of  a  Parliament  in  which  Ameri 
cans  were  not  represented.  Mr.  Grenville,  the  illiberal  lawyer 
and  official  barnacle,  with  the  whip  and  spur  of  an  imperious 
majority,  carried  the  Stamp  Act  through  Parliament  March  22, 
1765.  The  insolent  vices  of  prosperity  were  hurrying  England 
forward  to  her  supreme  and  crowning  humiliation. 

The  biography  of  Matthew  Lyon  is  not  the  place  to  write 
the  history  of  the  Revolution,  but  before  passing  from  the  con 
sideration  of  the  Stamp  Act,  the  first  measure  of  arbitrary  power 
in  the  impending  struggle,  the  writer  of  these  pages  cannot  but 
express  astonishment  to  find  Chief  Justice  Marshall  implicitly 
following  Lord  Mansfield  in  the  procession  of  courtiers,  and 
making  special  pleas  on  the  side  of  King,  Lords  and  Commons. 
Not  only  does  the  American  Chief  Justice  appear  to  lean  to  the 
side  of  arbitrary  power,  but  he  makes  a  labored  argument  to 
show  that  in  Parliament  was  lodged  the  right  to  impose  a  tax 
upon  the  Colonies  in  order  to  raise  a  revenue  for  England. 


«"Life  of  John  Stark," by  Edward  Everett, p.  3  in  Vol.  I  of  "Sparks's 
American  Biography." 


54  MATTHEW    LYON 

No  wonder  that  Junius  fixed  Mansfield  in  the  pillory.  No 
wonder  that  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
looked  upon  the  American  Mansfield  as  too  close  a  copy  of  the 
original.  But  judges  are  the  natural  defenders  of  prerogative. 
In  Marshall's  "Life  of  Washington,"  which  Jefferson  described 
as  "a  five-volumed  libel"  upon  the  Democratic  party,  and  as  a 
partisan  publication  prepared  rather  to  bolster  up  the  sinking 
fortunes  of  the  Federalists  than  to  celebrate  Washington,0  the 
Chief  Justice  exposes  his  want  of  acquaintance  with  Colonial 
history  by  the  following  observations :  "  The  degree  of  author 
ity  which  might  rightfully  be  exercised  by  the  mother  country 
over  her  Colonies  had  never  been  accurately  defined.  In 
Britain  it  had  always  been  asserted  that  Parliament  possessed 
the  power  of  binding  them  in  all  cases  whatsoever." b  And 
then,  as  if  he  had  never  heard  of  James  Otis  or  old  Sam  Adams, 
he  asserts  that  even  in  rebellious  Massachusetts  "this  had  per 
haps  become  the  opinion  of  many  of  the  best  informed  men  in 
the  province." c  Next  follows  this  extraordinary  statement: 
"  The  English  statute  book  furnishes  many  instances  in  which 
the  legislative  power  of  Parliament  over  the  Colonies  was  ex 
ercised,  so  as  to  make  regulations  completely  internal;  and  in 
no  instance  that  is  recollected  was  their  authority  openly  con 
troverted."*  As  if  there  could  not  be  a  doubt  about  it,  this 
high  prerogative  Federalist  refers  to  the  utterances  of  English 
ministers  at  divers  times  on  the  subject,  and  then  sums  up  thus: 
"  Of  the  right  of  Parliament,  as  the  supreme  authority  of  the 

«"  Jefferson's  Works,"  Vol.  V,  p.  587;  IX,  p.  478,  etc. 
b "  Marshall's  Washington,"  Vol.  II,  p.  99- 
•Ibid,  Vol.  II,  p.  99. 
*Ibid,  Vol.  II,  p.  101. 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  55 

nation,  to  tax  as  well  as  to  govern  the  Colonies,  those  who 
guided  the  councils  of  Britain  seem  not  to  have  entertained  a 
doubt."a  Why  even  that  oracle  of  the  law,  Daniel  Dulany, 
loyalist  and  all  as  this  illustrious  man  afterwards  became,  utterly 
annihilates  these  specious  claims  of  a  parliamentary  right  to 
raise  a  revenue  by  taxation  in  the  Colonies. b 

It  was  these  grave  mistakes  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall  in  deal 
ing  with  important  facts  of  Colonial  history  that  compelled 
Chancellor  Kent,  otherwise  his  warm  admirer,  to  say  of  his 
"Life  of  Washington:"  "This  work  is  very  authentic  and  accur 
ate,  except  the  first  volume  on  Colonial  history."0  Mr.  Bancroft, 
though  he  himself  is  happier  at  narrative  than  constitutional 
exposition,  declares  "  Marshall  meagre  and  incomplete."* 
Blackwood's  Magazine  finds  him  "  greatly  mistaken  several 
times  in  matters  of  importance."'"  John  Randolph,  the  ex 
travagant  admirer  of  Marshall,  said  in  a  letter  to  Philip  Barton 
Key,  "  I  cannot,  however,  help  thinking  that  he  was  too  long 
at  the  bar  before  he  ascended  the  bench;  and,  that  like  our 
friend  P.,  he  had  injured,  by  the  indiscriminate  defense  of  right 
or  wrong,  the  tone  of  his  perception  (if  you  will  allow  so  quaint 
a  phrase)  of  truth  or  falsehood."7 

The  gravamen  of  Marshall's  statements  is  that  anterior  to 
the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act,  Parliament  possessed  the  right 
to  bind  the  Colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  externally  and 


albid,  Vol.  II,  p.  103. 

b "  Dulany's  Considerations,"  etc.,   quoted  with  approval  by  Lord 
Chatham  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

c  "  Kent's  Course  of  English  Reading,  1853,"  P-  44- 
d"  North  American  Review,"  Vol.  XLVI,  p.  483. 
•"  Blackwood,"  Vol.  XVII,  pp.  57,  187. 
/  Baldwin's  "  Party  Leaders,"  p.  241. 


56  MATTHEW   LYON 

internally,  and  that  this  authority  had  never  been  openly  contro 
verted  by  the  Colonies.  This,  of  course,  embraced  the  right 
to  tax  them  for  purposes  of  revenue.  Never  was  more  egregi 
ous  error  made  by  a  weighty  writer.  Judge  Marshall 
confounds  the  commercial  regulations  and  restraints  imposed 
by  the  mother  country  upon  the  Colonies  with  the  right  to  tax 
them  for  revenue.  The  former  had  been  in  force  from  the 
earliest  days,  from  the  origin  of  the  Navigation  Act  in  1651, 
but  never  until  1764,  more  than  a  century  later,  when  the 
Stamp  Act  was  brought  forward,  had  the  attempt  been  made  to 
impose  a  revenue  tax  upon  America  by  the  British  Parliament. 
Edmund  Burke,  the  highest  authority  upon  Colonial  history, 
is  very  clear  on  this  point.  "  The  principle  of  commercial 
monopoly,"  Burke  says,  "  runs  through  no  less  than  twenty- 
nine  acts  of  Parliament,  from  the  year  1660  to  the  unfortunate 
period  of  1764.  In  all  those  acts  the  system  of  commerce  is 
established,  as  that  from  whence  alone  you  proposed  to  make 
the  Colonies  contribute  (I  mean  directly  and  by  the  operation 
of  your  superintending  legislative  power)  to  the  strength  of  the 
empire.  I  venture  to  say  that  during  that  whole  period" — how 
could  Marshall  have  failed  to  know  this? — "  a  parliamentary 
revenue  from  thence*  was  never  once  in  contemplation.  Ac 
cordingly  in  all  the  number  of  laws  passed  with  regard  to  the 
plantations,  the  words  which  distinguished  revenue  laws, 
specifically  as  such,  were,  I  think,  premeditatedly  avoided. 
*  *  *  This  is  certainly  true,  that  no  act  avowedly  for  the 
purpose  of  revenue,  and  with  the  ordinary  title  and  recital  taken 
together,  is  found  in  the  statute  book  until  the  year  I  have 
mentioned,  that  is,  the  year  1764.  All  before  this  period  stood 
on  commercial  regulation  and  restraint.  The  scheme  of  a 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  57 

Colony  revenue  by  British  authority  appeared,  therefore,  to  the 
Americans  in  the  light  of  a  great  innovation."* 

Chief  Justice  Marshall's  reading  of  the  English  statute-book 
must  have  been  limited,  when  with  such  commentators  as 
Edmund  Burke  and  Lord  Chatham  right  at  hand  on  the  very 
subject  he  was  discussing,  he  preferred  to  assert  for  English 
prerogative  claims  more  extravagant  than  had  been  set  up  by 
the  English  people  themselves.  Judge  Marshall  probably 
formed  his  opinions  on  this  subject  from  those  of  the  Crown 
lawyers,  which  were  oracular  to  this  extent,  that  they  always 
were  adapted  to  the  wishes  of  those  who  sought  them,  whether 
or  not,  as  a  Colonial  witticism  ran,  they  were  given  for  half  a 
crown  each.  "  I  have  lived  long  enough,"  Daniel  Dulany 
said,  "  to  remember  many  opinions  of  Crown  lawyers  upon 
American  affairs.  They  have  all  declared  that  to  be  legal 
which  the  minister  for  the  time  being  has  deemed  to  be  ex 
pedient."6 

The  Colonists  maintained  the  right  of  internal  taxation  as 
residing  exclusively  in  the  several  Assemblies  of  the  Freemen 
of  the  Provinces.  The  Crown  had  never  encroached  upon  it. 
In  the  many  discussions  in  Colonial  history  upon  the  extension 
of  the  English  statutes,  the  Americans  had  always  claimed  as 
their  own  inheritance  the  principles  of  English  liberty.  With 
their  institutions,  their  polity,  and  their  charters  was  insepar 
ably  interwoven  the  idea  of  representation  as  the  basis  of  tax 
ation.  In  all  the  Colonies,  whether  under  proprietary,  royal  or 
charter  governments,  the  people  of  each  one  of  them  from  the 


a  Edmund  Burke's  speech  on  American  Taxation,  delivered  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  April  19,  1774. 
&  "  Dulany's   Considerations,"   Annapolis,    1765. 


5  MATTHEW   LYON 

first  had  always  been  known  in  their  legislative  annals  as  "  the 
freemen  of  the  province."  The  careful  student  of  history  will 
find  from  the  dawn  of  English  settlement  in  America  the  germ 
of  State  rights  planted  in  each  Colony.  Local  self-government 
was  the  fundamental  theory  of  all  the  plantations.  All  grants 
for  money  were  made  by  the  Colonial  Assemblies.  Whether 
the  requisition  was  from  the  Crown  directly,  or  the  proprietary, 
or  the  governor,  the  veto  on  arbitrary  power  was  lodged  in  the 
freemen  of  the  provinces  represented  in  their  several  Legisla 
tures  or  Assemblies.  Jealously  did  they  guard  the  trust.  Here 
then  is  to  be  found  the  origin  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  Ameri 
can  people,  and  not  in  any  written  constitution.  The  lex  non 
scripta  of -the  freemen  of  the  provinces  was  the  fountain  source 
of  civil  and  political  liberty  in  the  United  States.  It  came  in 
with  the  extension  of  the  English  statutes,  and  antedated  the 
struggle  for  independence  by  more  than  a  century.  State  pride 
may  fondly  cling  to  these  early  memorials,  for  they  are  the  title- 
deeds  of  the  Republic.  In  them  are  to  be  found  ample  proofs 
of  that  autonomy  of  the  States  which  it  is  somewhat  the 
fashion  of  late  to  deride. 

The  war  of  the  Revolution,  according  to  Daniel  Webster, 
was  fought  "  on  a  preamble."*  But  Mr.  Webster's  epigram 
referred  to  the  second  stage  of  the  controversy,  that  which  im 
mediately  preceded  the  clash  of  arms.  Patrick  Henry  and 
James  Otis  first  uttered  the  cry  of  liberty.  The  people  of  each 
Colony  echoed  back  the  cry  when  they  were  told  their  birth 
right  was  in  danger,  and  all  were  ripe  for  resistance  from 
the  moment  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  became  known. 

o  "  Webster's  Works,"  Vol.  IV,  p.  109. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  59 

Resistance  was  everywhere.  The  Sons  of  Liberty0  spread  over 
all  the  Colonies  so  spontaneously  that  the  honor  of  giving  the 
first  impulse  to  the  movement  cannot  be  assigned  to  any  man 
or  to  any  Colony.  "The  punctured  veins,"  says  the  eloquent 
John  V.  L.  McMahon,  "  only  gave  out  the  blood  that  pervaded 
the  whole  system."5  Those  who  led  in  the  crusade  for  freedom 
are  indeed  up  among  the  immortals.  "  Such,"  remarks  Mc- 
Mahon,  "  were  Henry  of  Virginia,  and  Otis,  of  Massachusetts, 
in  the  two  great  Colonies,  whose  movements  against  the  Stamp 
Act  stand  first  in  order  and  importance  upon  the  page  of  his 
tory.  They  touched  the  chord  of  public  feeling,  already  trem 
blingly  alive;  and  they  knew  its  response."0 

The  young  emigrant  at  Ancient  Woodbury  had  arrived  in 
the  country  in  the  height  of  the  Stamp  Act  excitement.  Lyon's 
first  impressions  of  America  were  formed  at  a  time  remarkably 
favorable  to  a  quickening  of  the  impulses  of  freedom.  That 
portion  of  his  life  which  was  passed  in  Connecticut  has  scarcely 
been  mentioned  by  those  who  have  written  cursory  sketches  of 
his  career.  The  Rev.  Pliny  H.  White,  in  his  address  on 
Lyon  before  the  Vermont  Historical  Society,  refers  to  the  place 
of  his  nativity  and  his  early  arrival  in  America,  but  then  taking 
a  short  cut  into  his  subject,  he  declares  he  knows  nothing 
further  of  him  for  the  succeeding  eleven  years,  that  is,  until  his 
arrival  in  1777  at  Arlington,  Vermont.  He  dismisses  the  in 
teresting  period  from  his  fifteenth  to  his  twenty-fifth  year,  with 
the  remark  that  "  neither  record  nor  tradition  bears  witness  to 


aA  title  borrowed  from  Colonel  Barrc's  famous  speech.  Hildreth's 
"  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  II,  p.  529. 

bMcMahon's  History,  "View  of  the  Government  of  Maryland,"  p. 
333- 

e  Ibid,  p.  333- 


6O  MATTHEW  LYON 

any  other  facts  in  Lyon's  early  life."*  Fortunately  for  the 
purposes  of  the  present  biography,  Rev.  Mr.  White  was 
mistaken.  There  is  no  authority  for  his  statement  that  Jesse 
Leavenworth  was  one  of  the  holders  of  Lyon's  indentures. 
He  was  likewise  absurdly  at  fault  in  assigning  him  to  the 
position  of  "  a  laborer  in  the  employ  of  Thomas  Chittenden, 
of  Arlington,  Vermont,  afterwards  Governor  of  the  State."5 
Perhaps  the  desire  to  tell  an  anecdote  about  a  New  York  Fifth 
Avenue  coachman,  who  eloped  with  his  employer's  daughter, 
led  the  speaker  out  of  the  path  of  history  into  that  of  romance. 
There  are  several  other  inaccuracies  in  Mr.  White's  address, 
elsewhere  corrected  in  these  pages,  notably  concerning  Colonel 
Lyon's  second  wife,  the  number  of  her  children,  and  the  dura 
tion  of  her  married  life. 

Other  Vermont  writers  are  nearly  as  silent  in  relation  to  the 
years  Lyon  spent  in  Connecticut.  The  present  writer  recog 
nized  the  importance  of  collecting  the  lost  threads  of  that  part 
of  his  life  which  preceded  his  advent  in  Vermont,  before  the 
fictions  concerning  his  youth,  invented  afterwards  by  adversa 
ries  in  a  season  of  fierce  political  contention,  should  come  to 
be  accepted  as  sober  fact.  Patient  research  has  rewarded  the 
investigation  with  success.  Connecticut  antiquarians  had  not 
wholly  ignored  the  young  man.  The  descendants  of  Colonel 
Lyon  rendered  valuable  aid  by  furnishing  letters,  speeches  and 
fragmentary  sketches.  Miss  Susan  Quincy,  daughter  of  Presi 
dent  Josiah  Quincy,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Mrs.  S.  L.  Gouver- 
neur,  Jr.,  of  Washington,  granddaughter  by  marriage  of  Presi- 


°"  Life  and  Services  of  Matthew  Lyon,"  by  Pliny  H.  White,  1858, 
p.  6. 

»Ibid,  p.  6. 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  6l 

dent  Monroe,  have  also  placed  the  author  under  great  obliga 
tions  by  sending  him  interesting  original  letters  of  Colonel 
Lyon  to  Josiah  Quincy  and  Senator  Mason.  All  the  facts 
bearing  on  the  subject  of  his  life  in  Connecticut  which 
are  probably  accessible  at  this  day  will  now  be  presented 
in  their  appropriate  order.  If  other  records  and  memorials 
lie  buried  away  beneath  the  moth  and  rust  of  a  century  and  a 
quarter,  some  intrepid  antiquarian  may  yet  bring  them  to  light. 

The  fact  of  Matthew  Lyon's  residence  in  Connecticut  is 
established  upon  the  testimony  of  four  separate  authorities: 

First,  Lyon  himself,  in  a  speech  in  Congress  in  1798; 
second,  George  C.  Woodruff,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Town  of 
Litchfield/'  published  in  1845;  third,  Payne  Kenyon  Kilbourne, 
in  his  "  Biographical  History  of  the  County  of  Litchfield,"  pub 
lished  in  1851;  fourth,  William  Cothren,  in  the  first  volume  of 
his  "  History  of  Ancient  Woodbury,"  published  in  1854. 

In  one  or  two  other  places  the  fact  is  mentioned  incidentally, 
but  the  writers  here  designated  claim  to  have  prepared  their 
volumes  from  unpublished  original  sources,  and  may  be  called 
properly  authorities  on  the  subject. 

"After  living  ten  years  in  Connecticut,"  said  Matthew  Lyon, 
February  i,  1798,  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  "  from  my  fifteenth 
to  my  twenty-fifth  year,  I  removed  to  a  new  settlement  in 
Vermont,  then  called  New  Hampshire  Grants,  about  thirty 
miles  from  Ticonderoga."a  A  few  days  before  making  this 
statement,  he  had  said  on  the  floor  of  the  House :  "  By  these 
things,  and  my  standing  in  this  House,  I  could  prove  that  I 
have  always  been  respected  in  the  country  I  represent,  and 
where  I  have  lived  these  twenty-four  years."  b 

"Annals  of  Congress,  1798,  p.  1025. 
*>  Annals  of  Congress,  1.798,  p.  973- 


62  MATTHEW   LYON 

Mr.  Woodruff's  volume  contains  the  first  notice  of  Lyon, 
unless  "Morris's  Statistical  Account  of  Litchfield,"  now  out  of 
print,  may  be  excepted.  "  Formerly  by  a  law  of  this  State," 
Woodruff  says,  "  if  debtors  had  no  other  means  to  pay  their 
debts,  they  were  assigned  in  service  for  that  purpose.  And  it 
is  said  to  have  been  common  for  poor  foreigners,  who  could 
not  pay  their  passage  money,  to  stipulate  with  the  captain  of 
the  ship,  that  he  might  assign  them  to  raise  the  money.  Per 
sons  so  assigned  were  called  redemptioners,  and  several  were  so 
held  in  this  town.  Among  them  was  Matthew  Lyon,  a  native 
of  Ireland,  who  was  assigned  to  Hugh  Hannah,  of  Litchfield, 
for  a  pair  of  stags  valued  at  £12.  Lyon  was  afterwards  a  mem 
ber  of  Congress  from  Vermont  and  from  Kentucky."0 

The  next  reference  to  Lyon  is  found  in  Mr.  Kilbourne's  vol 
ume,  much  commended  by  Connecticut  scholars  for  its  anti 
quarian  research.  Among  condensed  sketches  of  a  number  of 
local  celebrities  occurs  the  following:  "Lyon,  Matthew,  Col 
onel,  a  native  of  Ireland,  came  to  this  country  in  1758,  and  was 
for  several  years  a  resident  of  this  county.  He  emigrated  to 
Vermont,  and  was  there  elected  to  Congress  in  1 797,  and  again 
in  1799;  he  soon  after  removed  to  Kentucky,  and  was  sent  to 
Congress  from  that  State  from  1803  to  1811.  His  son,  Chitten- 
den  Lyon,  was  in  Congress  from  Kentucky  for  eight  years. 
Both  of  Colonel  Lyon's  wives  were  natives  of  this  county,  the 
first  being  a  niece  of  Ethan  Allen,  the  second  a  daughter  of 
Governor  Chittenden."& 

The  third  notice  is  given  by  Mr.  Cothren  in  his  elaborate 
and  valuable  work.  This  author  says :  "  It  is  asserted  to  have 

a  Woodruff's  "  History  of  the  Town  of  Litchfield,  1845,"  pp.  29-30. 
b  Kilbourne's  "  Biographical   History  of  the  County  of  Litchfield, 
1851,"  P-  358. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  63 

been  a  common  practice  for  poor  foreigners  who  were  unable 
to  pay  their  passage  money,  to  engage  their  passage  by  stipula 
ting  with  the  captain  of  the  vessel  which  brought  them  to  this 
country,  that  he  might  assign  them  in  service  to  raise  the 
money  which  was  his  due  on  arrival  at  the  port  of  destination. 
Persons  assigned  in  this  manner  were  called  redemptioners,and 
more  than  one  was  so  held  in  Ancient  Woodbury.  Among 
the  number  was  Matthew  Lyon,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who  was 
assigned  on  his  arrival  in  New  York  to  Jabez  Bacon,  of  Wood- 
bury,  who  brought  him  home,  and  after  enjoying  his  services 
for  some  time,  he  assigned  him  for  the  remainder  of  the  time 
of  service  to  Hugh  Hannah,  of  Litchfield,  for  a  pair  of  stags 
valued  at  £12.  By  dint  of  sterling  native  talent,  under  these 
most  disheartening  circumstances,  he  fought  his  way  to  fame 
and  eminence.  *  *  *  Lyon's  success  furnishes  a  striking 
example  of  the  genius  of  the  institutions  of  our  favored 
country."* 

The  particulars  mentioned  by  Colonel  Lyon  in  the  extracts 
from  his  speeches  above  quoted,  will  suffice  to  correct  the  error 
of  Kilbourne  in  regard  to  the  year  of  his  arrival  in  this  country. 
It  is  known  that  he  went  immediately  to  Connecticut  after  his 
arrival  at  New  York  from  Europe.  Mr.  Cothren  states  that 
fact  correctly.  Lyon's  declaration  in  1798,  that  he  had  lived 
in  Connecticut  ten  years,  and  in  Vermont  twenty-four,  settles 
the  question  definitely  as  to  the  time  he  reached  America.  It 
was  in  the  year  of  the  Stamp  Act,  1765. 

Ancient  Woodbury,  his  first  home  in  America,  was  one  of 
the  early  settlements  of  Connecticut.  Many  pioneers  had  ar 
rived  there,  even  so  far  back  as  1673.  The  charter  of  the  town 


History  of  Ancient  Woodbury,  1854,"  Vol.  I,  p.  320. 


64  MATTHEW   LYON 

was  granted  in  the  spring  of  1674,  as  the  following  minutes 
attest:  "A  court  of  election  held  at  Hartford,  May  14,  1674; 
This  court  grants  that  Paumperaug  and  the  plantation 
there  shall  be  called  by  the  name  of  Woodbury,  which  town  is 
freed  from  county  rates  fower  yeares  from  this  date."a  Wood- 
bury,  according  to  Cothren,  was  a  place  of  extensive  limits, 
and  continued  to  be  for  years  after  its  settlement  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  important  towns  in  the  western  part  of  Con 
necticut.  Here,  with  flaunting  banners  and  "  sonorous  metal," 
came  Lafayette  and  the  French  army  marching  through  the 
town  to  join  Washington  in  the  south.  Here  they  stacked 
arms  for  rest,  and  the  old  chroniclers  relate  that  the  fair 
maidens  of  Woodbury  danced  on  the  village  green  with  some 
of  the  handsome  young  soldiers  from  chivalrous  France.6  If 
we  may  judge  of  the  prosperity  of  the  town  from  that  of  one 
of  its  merchants,  Jabez  Bacon,  to  whom  Lyon  was  apprenticed, 
it  was  a  remarkably  thriving  place.  "He  was  for  years,"  Coth 
ren  says,  "  the  sole  merchant  of  this  town,  and  all  the  neigh 
boring  towns ;  and  so  large  at  times  was  his  stock  in  trade  that 
it  is  credibly  reported  merchants  from  New  Haven  sometimes 
visited  Woodbury,  and  purchased  from  Jabez  Bacon  goods  to 
retail  afterwards  in  that  city."c  He  was  a  person  of  conse 
quence,  as  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter,  even  among 
the  business  men  of  New  York,  whither  he  frequently  went  to 
lay  in  goods.  His  active  young  apprentice  perhaps  sometimes 


a  Trumbull's  "  Colonial  Records,"  p.  227.  I  was  informed  by  the 
famous  antiquarian  collector  and  bookseller  of  New  York,  the  late 
Mr.  Sabin,  that  Trumbull  would  neither  publish  nor  allow  access  dur 
ing  his  lifetime  to  his  "  Colonial  Records." 

&  "  History  of  Ancient  Woodbury,"  Vol.  I,  p.  21$ 

c  "  History  of  Ancient  Woodbury,"  Vol.  I,  p.  35^- 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  65 

accompanied  him,  for  in  the  letters  of  Lyon  allussions  to  the 
habits  and  customs  of  the  people  of  New  York  at  that  period 
are  occasionally  made,  and  particulars  are  given  that  would 
seem  to  have  been  derived  from  personal  observation. 
Bacon  dealt  largely  in  pork,  the  "  Old  Red  Store  in  the  Hol 
low,"  as  his  place  was  called,  often  being  packed  with  dressed 
hogs  which  he  shipped  via  "  Darby  Narrors,"  to  New  York. 
A  bold  operation  is  related  of  him,  and  if  Lyon  witnessed  it, 
of  which  however  there  is  no  positive  evidence,  it  must  have 
produced  a  lasting  impression  on  so  apt  a  boy.  It  appears 
that  the  old  trader  turned  an  unsuccessful  venture  into  a 
grand  business  achievement,  and  "  put  the  screws  "  on  the 
whole  New  York  market.  He  had  made  a  large  shipment  to 
the  city,  consisting  of  a  choice  lot  of  pork,  and  counted  con 
fidently  on  handsome  profits.  But  when  he  reached  there  he 
could  find  no  purchasers,  even  the  houses  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  dealing  with  offered  ruinously  low  figures  for  his  meat.  To 
sell  at  such  prices  was  to  incur  heavy  loss,  to  re-ship  perishable 
meat  to  Derby,  a  total  one.  He  soon  found  out  the  cause  of 
the  depression.  Two  immense  shiploads  of  pork  were  ex 
pected  in  that  day  from  Maine.  The  person  who  gave  him 
the  information  might  have  noticed  an  instantaneous  change 
in  Bacon's  manner.  Cothren,  who  relates  the  story  as  an  un 
questionable  fact,  says :  "  The  old  gentleman  merely  set  his 
teeth  firm,  an  ominous  trick  of  his  in  a  bargain,  and  left  the 
store.  He  instantly  took  a  horse,  rode  some  six  miles  up  the 
East  River  shore,  to  about  what  is  now  Blackwell's  Island, 
boarded  the  sloops  as  they  came  along,  and  purchased  every 
pound  of  their  cargoes,  staking  his  whole  fortune  for  it.  This, 
at  that  day,  put  the  whole  New  York  market  in  his  hands,  and 


66  MATTHEW  LYON 

tradition  says  he  cleared  forty  thousand  dollars  by  this  single 
operation."  °  This  was  a  stroke  of  genius  scarcely  inferior,  ex 
cept  in  the  magnitude  of  the  operation,  to  that  related  of  the 
famous  Rothschild,  who  went  out  and  watched  the  varying  for 
tunes  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo  until  he  saw  the  Old  Guard  of 
Napoleon  broken  and  in  retreat.  Then  the  Napoleon  of  finance 
hastened  to  London  in  advance  of  the  news  and  bought 
English  consols,  clearing  out  of  hand  five  millions  of  dollars 
as  his  share  of  the  victory.  How  fully  the  enthusiastic  Lyon, 
already  burning  with  business  ardor,  must  have  enjoyed  this 
transaction  of  Bacon,  whether  as  an  eye-witness  or  as  a  listener 
to  the  story  from  the  lips  of  the  redoubtable  Jabez,  may  be 
easily  imagined. 

Ethan  Allen,  Seth  Warner  and  Remember  Baker  had  left 
Woodbury  before  Lyon  became  a  resident  of  the  place.  But 
in  their  occasional  visits  to  relatives  and  friends  in  the  neigh 
borhood,  the  three  famous  leaders  and  Lyon  met  as  acquain 
tances  and  friends.  There  is  a  tradition  in  Connecticut  that 
Lyon  went  with  them  to  Vermont,  but  this  is  a  mistake.  He 
continued  to  live  in  Connecticut  until  1774,  several  years  after 
the  others  had  become 'residents  of  the  Hampshire  Grants. 

From  the  first  Lyon  was  an  ardent  patriot.  Soon  after  he 
reached  Woodbury  a  convention  was  held  of  all  the  towns  of 
Litchfield  county,  and  Woodbury  was  fully  represented. 
Spirited  measures  were  adopted  by  this  body,  and  it  was 
"  resolved  that  the  Stamp  Act  was  unconstitutional,  null  and 
void,  and  that  business  of  all  kinds  should  go  on  as  usual."6 
Patriotic  excitement  ran  high  among  the  hardy  yeomanry  of 


albid,  Vol.  I,  p.  353- 
b  Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  173- 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  6/ 

the  county.  Notwithstanding  their  mutual  esteem  and  con 
geniality  of  temperament,  a  serious  cause  of  disagreement  now 
grew  up  between  Jabez  Bacon  and  Matthew  Lyon.  The  boy 
was  a  fiery  Whig;  the  man  was  suspected  of  being  a  Loyalist. 
General  Benedict  Arnold  once  preferred  charges  against  Bacon, 
and  ordered  the  Deputy  Commissary-General,  Peter  Colt,  to 
seize  contraband  goods  of  his  at  Derby  which  it  was  supposed 
Bacon  was  about  to  smuggle  to  the  British  on  Long  Island. 
Captain  Isaac  Tomlinson,  of  Woodbury,  was  involved  in  the 
same  charge  of  disloyalty  to  the  popular  cause.  They  stood 
their  trial  and  were  acquitted.® 

But  Bacon  was  immersed  in  the  pursuit  of  gain,  Lyon  more 
interested  in  the  cause  that  "  tried  men's  souls."  Cothren  says 
Bacon  at  his  death  was  worth  about  half  a  million.  Hinman, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  placed  the  amount  still  higher,  and  rated 
him  at  nine  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  either  sum  was  an  enor 
mous  fortune  in  those  primitive  days.  As  the  troubles  of  the 
times  increased,  Mr.  Bacon  finally  allowed  Lyon  to  look  out 
for  another  employer,  and  after  a  year's  residence  in  Wood- 
bury  the  young  Whig  was  assigned  to  Hugh  Hannah,  of  Litch- 
field.&  The  consideration  paid  by  Hannah  was  a  pair  of  stags 


o  "  State  Archives  of  Connecticut,"  Vol.  XV,  p.  66. 

6  In  "Reminiscences  of  Fair  Haven,"  "written  by  Miss  Emeline  Gilbert, 
as  communicated  to  her  by  Benjamin  Franklin  Gilbert,"  and  published 
in  Vol.  I  of  the  papers  of  the  Rutland  County  Historical  Society, 
pp.  146-7,  there  is  what  purports  to  be  a  sketch  of  Colonel 
Lyon.  It  is,  however,  only  a  fancy  sketch.  Among  its  other 
errors  of  fact,  the  following  more  glaring  ones  may  be  enu 
merated:  First.  "At  the  early  age  of  nine  years  he  sailed  for 
America,  landing  at  New  Haven,  Conn."  Not  true.  He  was 
fifteen  at  the  time  named,  and  landed  at  New  York.  Second.  "  The 
captain  sold  him  to  a  farmer  for  a  pair  of  stag  oxen."  Not  true.  See 
"  History  of  Ancient  Woodbury,"  Vol.  I,  p.  320.  Third.  "  At  twenty- 


68  MATTHEW  LYON 

of  the  value  of  £12,  old  tenor,  equivalent  to  $40.  The  price 
paid  by  Bacon  originally  is  not  known,  but  writers  of  that 
age  on  the  apprentice  system,  both  in  the  English  and  French 
colonies  in  America,  inform  us  that  common  laborers  were 
worth  between  forty  and  fifty  dollars ;  tradesmen  and  mechanics 
from  sixty  to  one  hundred  dollars  and  upwards.  Lyon  had 
learned  the  trade  of  printer  in  Dublin,  and  although  he  was  but 
fifteen  years  old,  it  is  probable  Bacon  paid  the  ship  captain 
about  sixty  dollars  for  his  indentures.  He  received  forty  dol 
lars,  or  its  equivalent,  from  Hannah,  or  about  two-thirds  per 
haps  of  the  original  price. 

Hugh  Hannah,  like  Bacon,  was  a  country  merchant,  but  no 
suspicion  of  disloyalty  to  the  patriots  was  ever  whispered 
against  him  in  the  local  chronicles  of  Connecticut.  The  writer 
has  been  informed  by  Mr.  Cothren,  the  well  known  contributor 
to  the  early  history  of  Litchfield  county,  that  it  is  a  tradition 
there  that  Matthew  Lyon  improved  his  leisure  hours  while  with 
Mr.  Hannah  by  a  diligent  course  of  study  and  reading.  He 


one  years  of  age  he  was  free  from  his  master,  and  made  his  way  to 
the  southern  part  of  Vermont."  Not  true.  He  was  free  at  eighteen, 
married  at  twenty-one,  and  did  not  go  to  Vermont  until  he  was 
twenty-five  years  old.  See  Mrs.  Roe's  letter,  and  Lyon's  speech  in 
Congress,  February  ist,  1798.  Whether  the  following  statement  has 
better  claims  to  truth  than  the  preceding  ones  is  left  to  the  decision 
of  the  reader:  "  With  the  floggings  of  an  abusive  master  and  mistress, 
and  the  stringency  of  the  '  Blue  Laws '  of  Connecticut,  the  boy  had 
but  a  sorry  time  in  his  new  home.  Possibly  the  master  was  not  better 
suited,  for  he  soon  sold  him  to  another  man.  The  change  was  a  for 
tunate  one  for  the  lad,  for  in  his  second  home  he  received  better  treat 
ment  and  some  schooling."  Lyon's  age  and  combative  propensities 
render  those  "  floggings  "  doubtful.  A  big  muscular  boy  in  his  six 
teenth  year,  and  almost  fiery  enough  to  fight  a  rattlesnake  and  give 
him  the  first  bite,  was  not  a  tempting  customer  to  practice  upon  with 
birch  or  otherwise.  The  story  looks  apocryphal. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  69 

"became  well  known  at  Litchfield,  and  made  many  friends  there. 
The  intense  energy  with  which  he  always  set  about  the  busi 
ness  before  him,  and  the  impetuosity  and  frankness  of  his 
manners  soon  attracted  favorable  attention;  the  warmth  of  his 
affections  and  a  riant,  Celtic  humor  greatly  promoted  his 
popularity;  while  the  daring  courage  and  zeal  with  which  he 
enlisted  in  the  patriotic  movements  of  the  day  brought  him 
into  contact  and  habits  of  intimacy  with  those  famous  men, 
Thomas  Chittenden  and -Ethan  Allen,  the  latter  then  resid 
ing  at  Salisbury  in  the  same  county.  He  probably  formed 
the  conception  of  the  extensive  iron  works  he  afterwards 
established  in  Vermont  from  an  inspection  of  similar  works 
at  Salisbury,  Connecticut,  which  were  in  part  the  prop 
erty  of  his  friend,  Ethan  Allen.  "  The  first  furnace  in 
the  Colony/'  Judge  Church  said,  "  was  built  at  Lake- 
ville  in  Salisbury,  in  1762,  by  John  Hazleton  and  Ethan 
Allen,  of  Salisbury,  and  Samuel  Forbes,  of  Canaan."* 
The  tenacity  of  the  iron  ore  of  Salisbury  is  said  to 
be  tmequaled.  At  a  later  date  the  National  Armories  of 
Springfield  and  Harpers  Ferry  were  supplied  from  this  place, 
and  the  best  anchors  and  chain  cables  of  the  Navy  were  also 
manufactured  with  Salisbury  iron.6 

Mrs.  Roe,  daughter  of  Matthew  Lyon,  informed  the  present 
writer,  as  heretofore  stated,  that  her  father's  term  of  apprentice 
ship  lasted  less  than  three  years.  "  He  worked  out  part  of  his 
time,  and  bought  the  rest  of  it,"  says  his  daughter,  "  and  com- 


«  Chief  Justice  Samuel  Church's  address  at  the  Litchfield  Centennial 
celebration,  1851. 
» Ibid. 


7O  MATTHEW   LYON 

menced  life  for  himself. "a  Her  statement  of  this  fact,  hitherto 
a  matter  of  guesswork  among  all  writers,  is  important,  and  the 
only  authoritative  one  on  the  subject.  She  was  seventeen 
years  old  when  Colonel  Lyon  died.  She  probably  got  the  infor 
mation  from  her  father  himself.  According  to  Mrs.  Roe,  Mat 
thew  Lyon  became  a  freeman  in  the  year  1768.  As  he  did  not 
leave  Connecticut  until  1774,  the  last  six  or  seven  years  of  his 
life  there  were  devoted  to  his  own  interests  and  pursuits. 
During  the  term  of  his  apprenticeship,  Mrs.  Roe  adds,  "  he 
had  accumulated  some  property."6.  He  consequently  did  not 
begin  his  career  empty-handed.  Lyon  fell  in  love  with  a  Miss 
Hosford,  probably  of  Salisbury,  the  niece  of  Ethan  Allen,  and 
following  the  custom  of  Connecticut,  where  early  marriages 
were  the  rule,  the  young  couple  were  married  shortly  after  Lyon 
attained  his  twenty-first  year.6  Canaan  had  been  the  residence 
at  one  time  of  Ethan  Allen,  and  of  his  father,  Joseph  Allen. 
Possibly  Miss  Hosford  may  have  lived  there.  But  Mr.  Coth- 
ren,  the  historian  of  Ancient  Woodbury,  informed  the  author 
that  Hosford  is  a  Salisbury  and  Cornwall  name. 

Lyon's  union  with  this  young  lady  proved  in  every  way 
happy.  It  supplied  a  new  incentive  to  his  exertions,  and  the 
cares  of  a  family  soon  gave  to  the  character  of  the  impetuous 
youth  the  counterpoise  of  stability  of  the  matured  man.  Social 
advantages,  in  addition  to  domestic  happiness,  were  acquired  by 
his  marriage  into  the  influential  Allen  family,  a  family  soon  to 
become  powerful  in  Vermont.  This  connection  and  the  favor 
able  acceptance  it  met  with  on  both  sides  establish  the  fact  of 
Matthew  Lyon's  respectable  standing  in  the  community  where 


0  Letter  of  Mrs.  E.  A.  Roe,  of  May  24th,  1881. 
blbid 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  71 

he  lived.  The  nephew  by  marriage  of  Ethan  Allen,  and  the  favor 
ite  associate  of  the  hero  of  Ticonderoga  and  of  the  other  leaders 
of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  from  the  origin  of  that  celebrated 
martial  clan,  was  an  individual  of  no  mean  pretensions  from 
his  earliest  manhood.  The  circumstance  of  his  having  begun 
his  career  as  an  apprentice  attached  no  discredit  to  Lyon's 
name.  It  was  only  in  the  fierce  party  conflicts  a  quarter  of  a 
century  later,  when  his  talents  had  made  him  a  formidable 
antagonist,  that  his  political  opponents  seized  upon  the  fact 
as  a  weapon  of  ridicule  to  be  used  against  him.  Colonel  Lyon 
in  later  life  always  spoke  with  pride  of  his  respectable  standing 
among  the  people  of  Connecticut.  At  the  time  of  his  alterca 
tion  with  Roger  Griswold,  on  the  floor  of  Congress  in  1798,  he 
declared  he  was  well  acquainted  with  the  people  of  that  State, 
as  the  first  part  of  his  life  in  this  country  had  been  passed  there. 
He  not  only  knew  them  well,  he  said,  but  having  lived  among1 
them  for  many  years,  he  was  confident  that  if  he  returned  there 
and  set  on  foot  a  printing  press  for  six  months,  although  the 
people  were  not  fond  of  revolutionary  principles,  he  could 
effect  a  revolution  which  would  result  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
Representatives  in  Congress  from  that  State,  since  they  were 
acting  in  opposition  to  the  interests  and  opinions  of  nine- 
tenths  of  their  constituents.0 

Notwithstanding  the  poverty  and  struggles  of  his  boyhood, 
Matthew  Lyon's  career  in  Connecticut  was  an  honorable  one. 
Commencing  as  a  redemptioner,  and  buying  his  freedom  before 
the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service,  he  so  conducted  himself 
that  every  incident  of  his  life  there  shows  a  certain  law  of  de 
velopment  as  its  characteristic  mark.  When  each  year 

«  Annals  of  Congress,  1798. 


72  MATTHEW  LYON 

closed  he  was  farther  advanced  than  at  its  beginning.  The 
lessons  he  learned  in  the  first  twelve  months  under  old  Jabez 
Bacon,  the  John  Jacob  Astor  of  the  Paumperaug  Valley,  bore 
fruit  afterwards  when  he  became  the  founder  of  towns  in  Ver 
mont  and  Kentucky.  Resuming  his  studies  the  second  year, 
when  employed  by  Hugh  Hannah,  of  Litchfield,  the  academic 
advantages,  which  had  been  cut  short  in  Dublin,  he  revived 
either  by  studying  self-imposed  tasks,  or  under  the  tuition  of  a 
schoolmaster.  He  continued  in  this  way  to  improve  his  mind 
and  his  fortunes  until  he  completed  his  twenty-first  year.  Then 
his  marriage  to  Miss  Hosford  took  place.  His  avocations 
during  the  four  succeeding  years  are  not  specifically  mentioned 
in  his  literary  remains,  but  they  were  sufficiently  remunerative 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  growing  family.  Probably  he  was 
employed  in  the  iron  works  of  Ethan  Allen  at  Salisbury,  as  his 
knowledge  of  that  business  was  displayed  at  Fair  Haven.  His 
associations  were  with  men  of  the  character  of  the  Aliens  and 
Chittendens.  Matthew  Lyon  and  Rev.  Bethuel  Chittenden,  a 
well-known  minister  of  the  Episcopalian  Church,  and  a  brother 
of  Thomas  Chittenden,  settled  in  the  same  neighborhood  in 
Vermont,  Lyon  in  Wallingford  and  Bethuel  Chittenden  in 
Tinmouth,  a  few  miles  away.  In  fine,  as  far  as  the  old  chron 
icles  of  Connecticut  make  mention  of  his  name,  Lyon  appears 
to  have  been  a  growing  figure  during  the  whole  time  he  re 
sided  in  that  Colony. 

Nor  is  his  case  a  singular  one.  By  their  talents  and  services 
to  the  people,  many  redemptioners  rose  to  high  public  posi 
tions  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  Daniel  Dulany  the 
elder,  before  referred  to,  who  for  forty  years  held  the 
first  place  in  the  confidence  of  the  Proprietary  and 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  73 

the  affections  of  the  people  of  Maryland,  was  an  Irish 
redemptioner.a  He  was  Attorney-General,  Judge  of  the 
Admiralty,  Commissary-General,  Agent  and  Receiver- 
General  and  Councillor  in  the  Province  of  Maryland  during 
the  successive  administrations  of  Governors  Bladen,  Ogle  and 
Sharpe.  His  son,  the  celebrated  Daniel  Dulany  the  younger, 
was  the  greatest  lawyer  in  America  before  the  Revolution. 
His  opinion  on  the  Stamp  Act  was  quoted  by  Lord  Chatham 
with  the  highest  commendation  in  his  famous  speech  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  May  27,  1774,  on  the  bill  authorizing  the 
quartering  of  British  soldiers  on  the  inhabitants  of  Boston. 

George  Taylor,  a  distinguished  Revolutionary  patriot,  mem 
ber  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  was,  as  already  mentioned,  an 
other  Irish  redemptioner.5  "  Persons  of  sterling  character  and 
skill  in  the  mechanic  arts,"  says  Rev.  Dr.  Foote,  in  his 
"  Sketches  of  Virginia,"  "  were  found  in  these  companies  (re- 
demptioners),  and  having  served  their  alloted  time  with  credit 
and  cheerfulness,  became  wealthy  and  held  an  honorable  posir 
tion  in  society,  the  descendants  being  unreproached  for  the 
faithful  servitude  of  their  ancestors."0  In  1748  the  great-grand 
mother  of  the  illustrious  Stonewall  Jackson  came  out  as  a  re 
demptioner  from  Europe  to  Maryland.** 

To  such  an  ambitious  young  man  as  Lyon  the  opportunities 
for  improvement  were  exceptionally  favorable.  Litchfield, 
from  an  early  day,  was  a  place  of  great  intellectual  activity,  and 

oRep.  Men,  Md.  and  D.  C,  p.  380. 

^Sanderson's  "  Lives  of  the  Signers." 

cFoote's  Sketches  of  Va.,  p.  263. 

**"  Life  and  Letters  of  General  Thomas  J.  Jackson  (Stonewall  Jack 
son),"  by  his  Wife,  Mary  Anna  Jackson.  New  York:  Harper  Brothers. 
1892,  p.  2. 


74  MATTHEW  LYON 

the  home  of  many  men  of  note.  The  first  Law  School  in  the 
United  States  was  established  there,  and  long  before  Judge 
Story's  Harvard  School  came  into  existence,  over  one  thousand 
lawyers  had  been  trained  at  Litchfield  by  that  excellent  man, 
Judge  Tapping  Reeve,  and  his  able  coadjutor,  Judge  James 
Gould,  author  of  the  famous  book  on  pleading.  Among  the 
number  were  Oliver  Wolcott,  Uriah  Tracy,  Horatio  Seymour, 
the  elder,  Peter  B.  Porter  and  John  C.  Calhoun.0 


a  Chief  Justice  Samuel  Church,  of  Connecticut,  in  his  interesting 
address  at  the  Litchfield  Centennial  celebration  in  1851,  makes  honor 
able  mention  of  a  great  number  of  prominent  men  who  had  been 
students  at  the  Law  School  in  that  place.  It  is  a  little  singular  that 
the  name  of  John  C.  Calhoun  is  entirely  omitted,  although  the  address 
is  replete  with  particulars  of  almost  every  other  man  of  note  who 
studied  there.  The  reader  can  scarcely  help  thinking  this  was  a 
studied  omission,  especially  in  view  of  the  following  inaccurate  state 
ment  in  the  address:  "  Gen.  Peter  B.  Porter  was  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College  and  pursued  the  study  of  the  law  where  so  many  of  the  noted 
men  of  the  country  have — at  the  Litchfield  Law  School.  *  *  *  As 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  he  was  associated  with 
Henry  Clay  on  a  committee  to  consider  the  causes  of  complaint  against 
Great  Britain,  and  drew  up  the  report  of  that  committee,  recommend 
ing  the  declaration  of  the  war  of  1812,"  p.  65.  Now  John  C.  Calhoun, 
another  graduate  of  Yale  College  and  a  student  at  the  Litchfield  Law 
School,  was  on  this  committee  with  General  Porter,  but  his  name  is 
suppressed,  although  he  and  not  General  Porter  wrote  the  report 
which  Judge  Church  ascribes  to  the  latter.  Another  misstatement  by 
the  orator  was  the  naming  of  Henry  Clay  as  a  member  of  the  commit 
tee,  whereas  he  was  Speaker  of  the  House  and  of  course  not  on  the 
committee  at  all.  The  committee  referred  to  was  the  committee  on 
Foreign  Relations  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  General  Porter 
was  named  as  chairman,  but  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  committee, 
Mr.  Calhoun  being  absent,  General  Porter  moved  that  Mr.  Calhoun 
be  made  chairman,  as  he  himself  was  about  to  retire  from  Congress, 
and  the  motion  was  unanimously  carried.  The  members  of  the  com 
mittee  were  Peter  B.  Porter,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Felix  Grundy,  John 
Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  and  Philip  Barton  Key.  The  report  in  ques 
tion  is  published  in  "  Calhoun's  Works,"  Vol.  V.  In  treating  of  so 
important  an  historical  fact  more  accuracy  on  the  part  of  Chief 
Justice  Church  was  to  have  been  expected. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  75 

"  Even  after  Judge  Gould's  connection  with  the  School," 
says  Church,  "  an  inspection  of  the  catalogue  will  show  that 
from  it  have  gone  out  among  the  States  of  this  Union  a  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  two  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  forty  Judges  of  the  highest  State 
Courts,  thirteen  Senators  and  forty-six  Representatives  in  Con 
gress,  besides  several  Cabinet  and  Foreign  Ministers."* 

Litchfield,  originally  called  the  "  wild  Western  lands,"  was 
settled  later  than  several  other  Connecticut  towns.  It  was 
long  regarded  as  a  mere  sterile  region  of  mountains  and  flinty 
rocks,  the  habitation  of  warlike  bands  of  Indians,  which  settlers 
avoided.  When  the  first  pioneers  ascended  the  steep  Litchfield 
hills,  they  came  with  axes  in  hand,  cutting  away  a  space  for 
their  log  cabins  and  meeting-houses,  and,  as  a  protection 
against  the  weather,  covering  them  when  put  up  with  rived 
clapboards  of  oak. 

They  built  stone  fences  about  the  clearings,  and  foddered 
their  cattle  on  the  snow,  and  slowly  the  nucleus  of  the  famous 
town  was  formed.  The  distaff  and  spindle  played  a  conspicu 
ous  part  in  their  domestic  economy,  for  like  the  queens  of  old, 
they  "  did  spin  with  their  hands,"  those  staunch  mothers  and 
daughters  of  Litchfield. 

"  Behold, 

The  ruddy  damsel  singeth  at  her  wheel, 
While  by  her  side  the  rustic  lover  sits." 

The  wedding  suit  is  still  growing  on  the  backs  of  "  individ 
ually  remembered  sheep  "b  when  the  bridal  day  approaches, 
and  they  are  sheared,  poor  things,  of  their  warm  coats  for  the 

"Ibid. 

5  "  The  Age  of  Homespun,"  by  Rev.  Horace  Bushndl. 


76  MATTHEW  LYON 

accommodation  of  the  groom,  and  wrapped  up  and  stitched  in 
blankets  to  keep  them  from  perishing  with  the  cold. 

And  now,  when  young  Lyon,  tempest-tossed  thus  far  in  the 
journey  of  his  short  life,  ascends  the  hills  of  Litchfield  and 
sits  down  within  its  gates,  a  simple,  primitive  society  is  already 
formed  there  into  which  he  is  hospitably  received,  and  where 
he  is  made  to  feel  at  home.  In  season  came  the  apple-paring 
and  quilting  frolics,  excursions  to  the  mountain  tops  after  the 
haying,  and  other  summer  sports.  In  winter  gathered  round 
the  big  fire-place  the  neighbors  pass  social  evenings,  and  while 
the  blazing  logs  throw  out  a  ruddy  light,  doughnuts  and  cider 
and  hickory  nuts  are  brought  out  of  the  cupboard  in  order  to 
season  discourse  with  entertainment,  and  drive  away  the  look 
of  alarm  which  the  deacon  and  spinster  have  caused  to  overcast 
the  Puritan  Arcadia  by  remarking  upon  "the  great  danger  com 
ing  to  sound  morals  from  the  multiplication  of  turnpikes  and 
newspapers."0 

Who  is  yon  stripling  cracking  hickory  nuts  before  the  fire, 
and  laughing  so  loudly  at  these  dismal  forebodings?  Can  it  be 
Matthew  Lyon,  the  future  editor  of  the  "  Scourge  of  Aristoc 
racy?" 

Ere  Litchfield  was,  two  or  three  generations  (succeeding  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth),  had  arisen,  flourished 
and  passed  away.  The  stern  Puritanism  of  the  earlier  days, 
such  as  Eaton  and  Davenport  brought  to  New  Haven,  did  not 
take  root  in  the  new  settlement.  The  Blue  Laws  were  relaxed. 
Surplices,  organs,  and  table  at  the  west  end  of  the  church  were 
no  longer  abominations  in  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  people. 
The  penal  statutes  against  Quakers,  and  prescriptive  of  prayer 

<* "  The  Age  of  Homespun,"  by  Rev.  Horace  Bushnell. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  77 

books  and  the  observance  of  Christmas,  were  a  dead  letter  in 
the  town  of  Litchfield. 

Nowhere  else  in  New  England  did  so  liberal  and  tolerant 
a  religious  spirit  prevail  as  in  this  county.  The  tone  of  feeling 
at  Yale  College  had  spread  to  the  place,  where  a  number  of 
the  alumni  resided.  Congregations  worshipping  with  the 
liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England  were  found  on  the  same  street 
with  those  of  the  Congregationalists,  not  only  in  Litchfield,  but 
in  Woodbury,  Salisbury  and  other  townships  of  the  county. 
"  Litchfield,"  President  Dwight  says,  "  is  a  handsome  town.  * 
*  *  There  are  two  congregations,  a  Presbyterian  and  an 
Episcopal.  The  latter  has  three  churches.""  Sometimes  the 
Puritan  dislike  of  Archbishop  Laud,  whom  the  early  Puritans 
styled  the  "  short  horns  of  Anti-Christ,"  and  of  the  ritualistic 
ceremonies  of  Episcopalian  worship,  would  break  out  in  Litch 
field,  and  vent  itself  against  members  of  the  Church  of  Eng 
land  there;  but  the  great  body  of  the  people  frowned  down  this 
spirit,  and  kept  persecution  at  a  distance.  "  A  more  tolerant 
and  of  course  a  better  spirit,"  Chief  Justice  Church  says,  "came 
with  our  fathers  into  this  county,  and  it  has  ever  since  been 
producing  here  its  legitimate  effects,  and  in  some  degree  has 
distinguished  the  character  and  the  action  of  Litchfield  county 
throughout  its  entire  history."6 

There  was  less  of  doctrinal  subtlety  and  Old  Testament 
metaphysics  among  its  pastors  than  among  the  Plymouth 
clergy.  The  moderate  spirit  of  Oliver  Wolcott  the  younger, 
and  Tapping  Reeve  and  James  Gould,  offset  the  sterner  Puri 
tanism  of  Lyman  Beecher  and  John  Cotton  Smith. 

°"  D wight's  Travels,"  Vol.  II,  p.  370. 
6  Church's  Litchfield  Centennial  address. 


78  MATTHEW  LYON 

Students  from  all  of  the  Southern  States,  especially  from 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  attended  the  Litchfield  Law 
School,  taking  their  place  side  by  side,  as  a  band  of  brothers, 
with  their  fellow  students  of  the  New  England  States.  Sec 
tional  animosity  had  not  yet  effected  a  lodgment  in  the  hearts 
of  Americans. 

The  restless  spirit  of  adventure  which  had  accompanied  the 
first  settlers  to  Litchfield,  impelling  them  into  untried  fields, 
began  to  shoot  out  in  new  directions  several  years  before  the 
Revolutionary  war.  The  tide  first  turned  to  Vermont,  which 
was  largely  settled  by  the  sons  of  this  county.  In  the  border 
wars  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  with  New  York  and  New 
Hampshire,  and  in  the  questionable  intrigue  of  some  of  the 
Vermonters  with  the  British  enemy  during  the  closing  years 
of  the  Revolution,  it  is  said  on  respectable  authority  that  the 
policy  adopted  by  Vermont  in  each  instance  was  inspired  from 
Litchfield.  But  the  intrigue  with  the  British  reflects  no  credit 
on  any  of  the  parties  to  it.  If  the  scheme  originated  at  the 
house  of  the  elder  Governor  Wolcott,  perhaps  Chief  Justice 
Church,  the  eulogist  of  Wolcott,  was  not  aware  when  he  made 
the  revelation  that  the  Continental  Congress  in  1780  declared 
that  intrigue  "  subversive  of  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the 
United  States."0 

It  is  often  the  case  that  the  well  kept  secrets  of 
one  generation  are  inadvertently  unearthed  and  brought  to 
light  by  the  chronicler  of  another  generation,  intent  only  on  an 
individual  narrative,  and  unconscious  of  the  larger  historical 
importance  it  may  possess.  The  more  recently  published 
Haldimand  correspondence,  which  discloses  the  secret  negotia 


"  De  Puy's  Green  Mountain  Boys,"  p.  409. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  79 

tions  between  the  British  and  the  Vermont  leaders,  does  not 
connect  the  name  of  Wolcott  with  that  Janus-faced  diplomacy 
which  so  stirred  the  wrath  of  General  Stark,a  and  indeed  of  the 
people  of  Vermont  themselves.  An  unsealed  letter  became  the 
tell-tale  witness,  and  the  contrivers  of  the  plot  were  put  to 
their  wit's  end  to  appease  the  indignation  it  produced  among 
the  people.  The  letter  contained  an  apology  from  the  British 
commander,  General  St.  Leger,  for  the  killing  of  a  Vermont 
soldier,  Sergeant  Tupper,  by  one  of  the  enemy,  in  consequence, 
said  St.  Leger,  of  "  my  picket  not  knowing  the  situation."'6 
Extraordinary  apology!  Was  the  war  over  between  Vermont 
and  Great  Britain?  General  St.  Leger  buried  the  Vermonter 
with  a  suspicious  display  of  respect,  and  sent  back  his  effects 
to  General  Enos,  the  commander  of  the  Vermont  troops.  The 
letter  which  he  also  sent  fell  into  the  wrong  hands,  the  matter 
was  brought  before  the  legislative  body,  and  the  Green  Moun 
tain  Boys  scented  treason  in  the  air.  The  fine  Machiavellian 
hand  of  Ira  Allen  was  required  to  allay  the  rising  storm. 

"  In  her  (Vermont's)  dilemma,  "  says  Church,  "  her  most 
sagacious  men  resorted  to  the  councils  of  their  old  friends  of 
Litchfield  county,  and  it  is  said  that  her  final  course  was  shaped, 
and  her  designs  accomplished  by  the  advice  of  a  confidential 
council  assembled  at  the  house  of  Governor  Wolcott  in  this 
'village."6 

Vermont  has  been  claimed  by  some  Connecticut  writers  as 
the  child  of  Litchfield  county.  The  principal  founders  of  the 


aProf.  James  Davie  Butler's  address  before  Vermont  Historical 
Society,  1846.  "  Vermont  Historical  Society,"  Vol.  II,  "  Haldimand 
Papers." 

b  "  Vermont  Historical  Gazetteer,"  Vol.  I,  p.  819. 

«  Church's  Centennial  address  at  Litchfield,  1851. 


8O  MATTHEW  LYON 

hardy  little  State  emigrated  from  that  county.  Ethan  Allen 
and  his  several  brothers,  as  well  as  Thomas  Chittenden,  Seth 
Warner,  Matthew  Lyon,  Remember  Baker,  the  Galushas,  Chip- 
mans,  and  other  Vermont  magnates  all  hailed  from  Connecticut. 
Among  these  distinguished  Litchfieldians,  four  became  gover 
nors  of  Vermont,  three  senators  in  Congress,  and  several  of 
them  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  including  in 
the  last  category  the  subject  of  this  biography. 

Of  Matthew  Lyon's  marriage  with  Miss  Hosford^  four 
children  were  born,  Ann,  James,  Pamelia  and  Loraine,  names 
given  to  them  for  members  of  the  Allen  family.  Ann,  the 
oldest  child,  married  John  Messenger,  of  Vermont.  They  emi 
grated  to  Kentucky  in  1799,  and  Mrs.  Messenger  lived  to  be 
an  octogenarian.®  James  was  sent  by  his  father  to  Philadel 
phia  and  placed  under  charge  of  the  illustrious  Benjamin 
Franklin.  Following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father,  he  learned 
the  trade  of  a  printer.  He  returned  to  Vermont  an  active 
business  man.  During  the  latter  years  of  his  father's  residence 
in  that  State  James  rendered  him  valuable  assistance  in  con 
ducting  his  newspaper,  "The  Farmer's  Library,"  and  his  maga 
zine  called  "The  Scourge  of  Aristocracy;"  also  in  managing  his 
father's  extensive  iron  works,  mills  and  other  interests  at  Fair 
Haven  during  the  latter's  absence  in  the  State  Legislature,  and 
afterwards  as  a  member  of  Congress.  James  Lyon,  honored 
with  the  friendship  and  correspondence  of  Jefferson,  subse 
quently  became  a  citizen  of  South  Carolina,  where  he  died  in 
1824.  Pamelia  married  Dr.  George  Cadwell,  of  Hampton, 
New  York,  and  removed  to  Kentucky  with  her  husband  and 
father.  Loraine,  the  youngest  child  of  Colonel  Lyon's  first  mar- 

o  Letter  of  Mrs.  Roe. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  8l 

riage,  also  accompanied  her  father  to  Kentucky,  but  con 
tracted  a  fever  and  died  very  soon  after  her  arrival  in  Eddy- 
ville,  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  She  was  the  first  white  person 
whose  death  occurred  in  the  new  settlement,*  and  her  early 
demise  proved  a  severe  affliction  to  her  father  and  other  rela 
tives. 

According  to  the  best  authorities  Ethan  Allen,  the  oldest  of 
the  famous  brothers,  set  out  for  the  valley  of  Lake  Champlain 
in  the  year  I7666.  Ira  Allen,  the  youngest  brother,  followed 
in  1771.°  The  latter  went  with  Remember  Baker  to  Onion 
river  in  1772  to  survey  lands  they  had  there  purchased.  Sub 
sequently  these  settlers  formed  an  association  which  was 
known  as  "  The  Onion  River  Land  Company."  The  members 
were  Ethan  Allen,  Remember  Baker,  Heman  Allen,  Zimri 
Allen  and  Ira  Allen.*  They  purchased  an  immense  tract  em 
bracing  over  300,000  acres  between  Ferrisburgh  and  the 
Canada  line,  upon  the  Lake  shore,  which  comprised  the  greater 
part  of  eleven  townships.  But  the  tide  of  war  bore  the  settlers 
hither  and  thither  during  the  Revolution.  After  the  peace  Ira 
Allen  returned,  and  did  much  to  develop  the  country,  especially 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Winooski  Falls. 

These  pioneers  were  soon  followed  by  many  of  their  former 
,  neighbors  in  Connecticut.  Benning  Wentworth,  Governor  of 

«  Mrs.  Roe's  letter. 

*> "  Vermont  Historical  Magazine,"  Vol.  I,  p.  561. 

0  Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  770. 

d"  Bennington  was  granted  in  the  year  1749  by  Benning  Wentworth, 
Governor  of  New  Hampshire,  and  from  him  received  its  name.  In 
1764  Captain  Robinson,  a  respectable  inhabitant  of  Hard  wick  in  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  having  purchased  a  tract  of  land,  be 
gan  the  settlement  of  Vermont,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Green 
Mountains  in  this  place.  He  was  soon  followed  by  a  number  of 
planters;  and  the  township  was  filled  up  with  great  rapidity"— 
Dwighfs  Travels,  II,  402^3. 


82  MATTHEW  LYON 

New  Hampshire,  had  discovered  a  rich  placer  in  the  country- 
west  of  the  Green  Mountains,  and  for  many  years  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  issuing  patents  or  grants  of  land  in  the  Valley  of  Lake 
Champlain,  from  the  proceeds  of  which  land  speculations  he 
amassed  a  large  fortune.  Hence  the  name  of  New  Hampshire 
Grants.  Settlers  flocked  in  from  Massachusetts,  New  Hamp 
shire,  and  especially  from  Connecticut. 

Among  these  early  pioneers  came  Thomas  Chittenden,  from 
Salisbury,  Connecticut,  destined  to  be  the  first  and  most  fam 
ous  Governor  of  Vermont;  and  Matthew  Lyon,  from  Litchfield, 
whose  services  to  the  State  were  only  second  in  importance  to 
those  of  Chittenden,  of  the  two  Aliens,  and  of  Seth  Warner; 
and  whose  achievements  in  the  wider  sphere  of  the  National 
House  of  Representatives  were  greater  than  those  of  any  of 
the  early  Vermonters.  The  annals  of  the  country  would  be 
incomplete  without  a  narrative  of  the  part  taken  by  this  born 
leader  of  men  during  the  administrations  of  Adams,  Jefferson 
and  Madison.  It  is  not  surprising  that  Mr.  Wharton  in  his  valu 
able  work,  "The  State  Trials  of  the  United  States,"  should  call 
attention  to  the  want  of  a  biography  of  Matthew  Lyon  as  a 
deficiency  in  American  literature. 

A  pioneer  by  nature,  Lyon  rejoiced  in  frontier  life,  and  took 
as  much  delight  as  Daniel  Boone  himself  in  threading  the  soli 
tude  of  the  trackless  forest.  But  while  Boone  remained  always 
a  forester,  Lyon  was  both  forester  and  statesman,  at  home  in' 
the  wilds  on  Lake  Champlain  and  the  forests  of  Kentucky,  and 
distinguished  as  a  debater  and  originator  of  sound  measures 
in  Congress.  He  was  captivated  by  the  glowing  accounts  sent 
back  to  Connecticut  by  the  advance  guard  in  Vermont. 

The  country  in  fact  deserved  the  praise  lavished  on  it  by  the 
land  speculators.  It  had  remained  a  wilderness  ever  since 
1609,  when  the  celebrated  Samuel  Champlain,  Father  of  New 


THE  HAMEDEN  OF  CONGRESS  83 

France,  discovered  the  lake  which  bears  his  name,  and  rashly- 
participated  with  the  Algonquins  in  that  famous  battle  with  the 
Iroquois,  which,  from  the  mighty  results  traceable  directly  to 
it  as  a  cause,  deserves  to  be  ranked,  not  as  an  insignificant 
skirmish  between  a  handful  of  savages,  but  rather  as  one  of  the 
decisive  battles  of  the  world.  From  that  day  forth  the  Iro 
quois  hated  the  name  of  a  Frenchman,  and  the  powerful  Con 
federacy  of  the  Five  Nations  did  more  to  drive  France  from  the 
new  world  than  was  accomplished  in  the  same  direction  by  the 
arms  of  England  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham,  when  Wolfe  fell 
in  the  arms  of  victory,  and  Montcalm  closed  his  illustrious 
career  in  defeat.  Middle  space  between  the  territories  of  fierce 
Iroquois  and  Algonquins,  and  afterward  between  New  France 
and  New  England,  scarcely  less  savage  in  their  wars  with  each 
other  than  the  Indians,  the  Valley  of  Lake  Champlain  was  the 
dark  and  bloody  ground  of  colonial  history.  Its  solitude  was 
unbroken  save  by  the  crack  of  the  rifle,  or  the  war-whoop  of  the 
savage  as  his  tomahawk  descended  on  his  victim.  "  Every 
rustle  of  a  shaken  leaf " — even  after  the  New  England  settlers 
began  to  arrive — "  seemed  an  Indian  tread;  every  tree  an  In 
dian  covert;  every  window  a  mark  for  his  rifle."a 

Matthew  Lyon  read  with  admiration  of  this  magnificent 
valley,  and  its  Green  Mountains  dedicated  from  the  dawn  of 
creation  to  the  sublime  and  beautiful  in  nature;  how  the  terri 
tory  just  reclaimed  from  the  savages  was  opened  up  to  the  uses 
of  civilized  man;  how  its  lakes  and  rivers  were  shaded  by 
forests  of  pine,  elm  and  chestnut;  the  uplands  timbered  with  a 
luxuriant  growth  of  maple,  beech  and  birch;  and  the  moun 
tains,  lifting  their  peaks  among  the  clouds,  were  covered  from 
base  to  sky-piercing  summit  in  a  tropical  mantle  of  evergreens. 

fl  Prof.  James  Davie  Butler's  address  before  Vermont  Historical 
Society,  1846. 


84  MATTHEW  LYON 

Moose,  deer,  otter,  beaver,  and  other  animals  supplied  the 
hunter  with  game;  and  the  lakes,  rivers  and  smaller  streams 
were  replenished  with  fish  of  good  quality  and  in  great  variety. 
In  the  spring  of  1774  Lyon  and  his  family  bade  friends  in 
Litchfield  adieu,  and  set  out  for  the  new  country  across  the 
Green  Mountains.  Strange  to  say,  no  writer  appears  to  be 
informed  of  the  precise  time  of  his  arrival  in  Vermont.  But 
the  date  is  fixed  by  the  Colonel  himself  in  the  brief  narrative 
of  his  career  in  Connecticut  and  Vermont  which  he  recounted 
in  1798  on  the  floor  of  Congress.  This  narrative,  and  the  let 
ters  and  documents  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  present  writer 
by  his  descendants,  conclusively  show  that  he  went  to  Vermont 
during  the  same  spring  that  Thomas  Chittenden  emigrated. 
It  is  not  unlikely  that  Thomas  Chittenden,  Matthew  Lyon  and 
Jonathan  Spafford,  with  their  several  families,  formed  part  of 
one  emigrant  train.  Governor  Chittenden  set  out  in  the 
month  of  May,  1774."  In  Mr.  John  Strong's  graphic  sketch 
of  Addison,  Vermont,  it  is  said  some  of  the  early  Litchfield 
emigrants  took  the  route  through  Albany  across  the  Hudson 
to  Fort  Gurney,  and  thence  through  Lake  George  to  Ticonde- 
roga,  and  down  Lake  Champlain  to  their  respective  destina 
tions.6  But  it  is  believed  Chittenden  and  Lyon  carried  in 
their  train  household  wares  and  farming  utensils,  and  it  isr 
therefore,  more  probable  their  route  was  northward  through 
Goshen,  Cornwall,  and  Canaan,  Connecticut,  across  the  line 
into  Massachusetts,  and  thence  through  Sheffield,  "  delightfully 
romantic  Stockbridge,"  and  Williamstown,  famous  for  its  Col 
lege,  Alma  Mater  of  President  Garfield,  whence  they  passed  the 


<»  Hon.  David  Read  in  "  Vermont  Historical  Magazine,"  Vol.  I. 
»  Strong's  sketch,  Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  7. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  85 

border  into  Vermont.  Fourteen  miles  beyond  the  Massachu 
setts  line  lies  Bennington.  Thence  to  Wallingford,  via  Man 
chester,  the  pioneers  took  their  way.  At  this  point  Matthew 
Lyon  stopped,  made  his  pitch  of  lares  and  penates,  and  looked 
round  on  earth,  sky  and  lake,  horizon  of  his  first  home  in  the 
wilderness.  Bidding  God  speed  to  his  fellow-travelers,  he 
beheld  the  hardy  pioneers  as  they  moved  off,  no  doubt  on  his 
side  with  sorrowful  heart,  for  Thomas  Chittenden,  destined  to 
become  his  father-in-law  at  a  later  date,  was  one  of  those 
rugged  captains  and  noble  souls  in  life's  battle  whose  con 
versation  was  a  joy  to  all  who  were  brought  into  his  society. 
Wallingford,  Lyon's  first  abode  in  the  Hampshire  Grants,  is 
situated  on  Otter  Creek  in  the  southeastern  section  of  Rutland 
county,  between  thirty  and  forty  miles  from  Ticonderoga. 
After  parting  company  with  Lyon,  Thomas  Chittenden  and  his 
fellow  pioneers  continued  the  journey  to  Ticonderoga,  and 
thence  down  Lake  Champlain  to  Onion  or  Winooski  river, 
and  up  that  river  to  Williston,  a  spot  of  wonderful  beauty,  sixty 
or  seventy  miles  further  north  than  where  Lyon  and  his  little 
family  had  pitched  their  tents. 

The  celebrated  President  Dwight,  of  Yale  College,  was  in 
the  habit  of  spending  vacations  in  traveling  through  New 
England  and  New  York.  He  visited  Vermont  several  times, 
and  has  left  graphic  pictures  of  the  Green  Mountains  and  of  the 
Valley  of  Lake  Champlain.  His  sketches  of  the  hardy  race  of 
men  who  settled  the  country  are  drawn  in  colors  much  less 
bright.  He  took  notes  and  collected  materials  during  his 
journeys  for  a  book  which  was  published  in  four  volumes,  his 
well-known  "  Travels  in  New  England  and  New  York."  Such 
is  the  uncertain  fate  of  literary  efforts,  that  Dr.  Dwight,  who 


86  MATTHEW   LYON 

spent  a  lifetime  in  writing  that  ponderous  work  "  Theology 
Explained  and  Defended,"  besides  hundreds  of  sermons  and 
long  ambitious  poems,  as  the  solid  edifice  upon  which  his  fame 
might  rest,  is  now  best  remembered  by  the  production  of  his 
leisure  hours,  written  perhaps  as  a  relief  from  more  exhausting 
occupations.  What  he  prized  most,  and  fondly  thought 
would  win  immortality,  has  become  nearly  obsolete,  while  his 
modest  book  of  travels  has  not  only  made  his  name  famous  in 
the  world  of  letters,  but  deservedly  ranks  as  an  American 
classic.  It  is  chaste  in  style,  eloquent  in  descriptions  of  natural 
scenery,  and  valuable  to  the  historical  student  as  an  animated 
picture  of  the  manners,  customs  and  modes  of  life  in  New 
England  and  New  York  nearly  a  century  ago.  In  a  review  of 
this  work  Robert  Southey  said :  "  The  work  before  us,  though 
the  humblest  in  its  pretences,  is  the  most  important  of  his 
writings,  and  will  derive  additional  value  from  time,  whatever 
may  become  of  his  poetry  and  of  his  sermons."a  "  He  has 
done  more,"  Chancellor  Kent  said,  "  than  any  other  person  to 
explain  and  recommend  to  the  respect  of  mankind,  the  wisdom 
of  the  institutions  of  New  England,  and  the  progress  of  her 
settlements,  her  geography,  her  history  and  her  biography."5 

Dr.  Dwight  was  the  greatest,  as  well  as  the  most  delightful, 
of  the  New  England  schoolmasters.  Had  Daniel  Webster 
enjoyed  the  inestimable  advantage  of  his  instructions,  the 
Jupiter  Tonans  of  American  eloquence  might  have  boasted,  as 
Alexander  the  Great  said  of  Aristotle,  that  the  wisest  of  his 
countrymen  had  been  his  instructor.  But  Dr.  Dwight  had  for 
pupil  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  moulded  the  plastic  genius  of  the 

«  Robert  Southey  in  "  London  Quarterly  Review,"  Vol.  XXX,  p.  i. 
&  Kent's  address  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  New  Haven, 
1831. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  87 

South  Carolina  prodigy  with  consummate  art,  and  a  parental 
fondness  born  of  admiration  of  his  pupil's  shining  parts. 
"  That  young  man,"  he  said  one  day  to  a  friend,  "  has  talents 
enough  to  be  President  of  the  United  States."0 

In  the  year  1798  Dr.  D wight  visited  Wallingford,  Vermont, 
the  home  of  Matthew  Lyon  in  the  new  settlement  from  1774  to 
1777.  He  also  visited  Fair  Haven,  the  flourishing  little  town 
of  which  Colonel  Lyon  was  the  founder  and  most  distinguished 
citizen.  Extending  his  journey  the  Doctor,  at  a  later  day, 
visited  the  plantation  of  Governor  Chittenden  in  Williston. 
He  gives  us  glimpses  of  these  places. 

"  Thursday,  September  26  (1798),  we  rode  to  Rutland  before 
dinner,  twenty  miles.  Our  journey  lay  along  the  principal 
branch  of  Otter  Creek.  The  mountain  on  the  west  having 
terminated  in  Wallingford,  we  escaped  from  our  defile  into  an 
open  and  more  agreeable  country.  Wallingford  contained  in 
1790,  536;  in  1800,  912;  in  1810,  1,316  inhabitants."6  During 
this  trip  the  Doctor's  morality  suffered  a  shock  at  one  of  these 
towns,  name  not  given  in  the  text.  "  We  lodged  at  an  inn, 
where  we  found,  what  I  never  before  saw  in  New  England,  a 
considerable  number  of  men  assembled  on  Saturday  evening, 
for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  tavern-haunting.  They  continued 
their  orgies  until  near  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  scarcely 
permitting  us  to  sleep  at  all.  Early  the  next  morning,  these 
wretches  assembled  again  for  their  Sunday  morning  dram, 
when  we  left  the  inn  and  went  to  a  neighboring  house  as  early 
as  possible,  disgusted  with  the  manners  of  so  irreligious  a 
family."0 

°R.  M.  T.  Hunter's  "Life  of  Calhoun,  1845,"  p.  6. 

*  "  Dwight's  Travels,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  410-11. 

•  Ibid,  Vol.  II,  p.  411. 


88  MATTHEW   LYON 

The  Doctor's  Puritan  zeal  bridles  up  at  any  comparison  be 
tween  Connecticut  and  Vermont.  "  I  shall  further  be  told, 
perhaps,"  exclaims  the  good  Timothy,  like  some  haughty  old 
Athenian  waving  away  from  the  Parthenon  garish  maidens  of 
Chios  or  Rhodes,  "  that  the  inhabitants  of  Vermont  are,  in  a 
great  proportion,  either  such  as  were  originally  citizens  of  Con 
necticut,  or  children  of  those  citizens."  But  the  schoolman 
is  ready  with  his  distinction :  "  The  men  who  originated  the 
policy  of  Connecticut  were  a  very  different  class  of  human 
beings  from  those  who  formed  the  system  of  Vermont.  Intel 
ligence  and  piety  flourished  under  the  fostering  care  of  those 
who  founded  Connecticut.  They  are  growing  up  in  Vermont 
in  spite  of  these  founders.""  It  may  be  doubted,  however, 
malgre  the  learned  Doctor,  whether  Vermont  was  less  fortu 
nate  than  the  land  of  Steady  Habits  for  being  free  of  the  Blue 
Laws.  "Wednesday,  October  3d,"  he  says,  "we  left  West 
Haven,  and  rode  through  Fair  Haven.  *  *  *  Most  of  the 
road  was  tolerably  good.  Fair  Haven  is  geneally  a  rough,  dis 
agreeable  township.  The  only  exception  to  this  remark,  within 
our  view,  was  on  its  southern  limit  along  Pulteney  river,  where 
there  is  a  small  tract  of  handsome  intervals.  The  only  cheer 
ful  object  which  met  our  view  before  we  reached  the  river  was 
a  collection  of  very  busy  mills  and  other  waterworks." 
These  mills  and  waterworks  were  the  property  of  Mat 
thew  Lyon,  but  the  Puritan  saint  does  not  condescend 
to  name  the  Democratic  sinner.  Matthew  about  that 
time  was  in  jail  as  a  Republican  incorrigible.  "  Fair  Haven, 
in  1790,  included  West  Haven,  and  contained  545  inhabitants; 


"Ibid,  Vol.  II,  p.  473. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  89 

in  1800,  there  were  in  Fair  Haven  411,  and  in  1810,  645.     Both 
of  these  townships  are  small."a 

In  the  year  1806  the  Doctor  made  another  tour  through 
Vermont,  and  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  Governor  Chittenden's 
settlement.  "  In  Jericho  we  passed  by  a  beautiful  plantation, 
formerly  the  property  of  Governor  Chittenden,  now  of  Major- 
General  Chittenden,  one  of  the  members  of  the  American  Con 
gress."6  This  Major-General  was  Martin  Chittenden,  brother- 
in-law  of  Matthew  Lyon  by  his  second  marriage,  and  his  close 
friend.  In  one  of  Lyon's  letters  to  President  Josiah  Quincy, 
of  Harvard  University,  another  of  his  intimate  friends,  he  con 
cludes  by  saying:  "  Give  my  respects  to  my  friends,  and  as 
sure  them  I  have  not  forgotten  them.  I  write  by  this  mail  to 
my  brother  Chittenden,  and  shall  not  repeat  to  him  what  I 
have  said  to  you.  With  affectionate  regard,  I  am, 

"  Truly  Your  Friend, 

"  M.  LYON." 

President  Quincy  and  General  Chittenden  were  then  in  Con 
gress,  1812,  and  Colonel  Lyon  was  in  Kentucky. 

"  Onion  river/'  Dr.  Dwight  says,  "  furnishes  several  romantic 
scenes.  *  *  *  The  estate  of  Hon.  Mr.  Chittenden  is  the  most 
beautiful  spot  on  its  banks;  and  probably  one  of  the  most  fer 
tile  in  the  American  Union.  To  a  person  satisfied  with  rural 
solitude  it  must  be  a  charming  residence."0  This  romantic 
spot  was  the  home  in  her  girlhood  of  Beulah  Chittenden, 
second  wife  of  Matthew  Lyon. 

But  while  Dr.  Dwight  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the 
infant  settlement  of  the  Hampshire  Grants,  it  cannot  be  re- 

«/Wd,  Vol.  II,  p.  455- 

*lbid,  Vol.   II,  p.  429- 

«"  Dwight's  Travels,"  Vol.  II,  p.  433. 


9O  MATTHEW   LYON 

garded  as  an  impartial  one.  This  eminent  scholar  had  the 
fault,  sometimes  found  among  persons  with  set  ideas,  of  not 
thinking  as  well  of  their  neighbors  as  they  might.  Ethan  Allen 
was  one  of  his  inveterate  aversions.  For  all  Frenchmen  the 
good  Doctor's  dislike  was  still  more  marked.  Of  the  hero  of 
Ticonderoga  he  thus  speaks: 

"  This  man  was  born  at  Salisbury,  in  Connecticut.  His 
education  was  confined,  and  furnished  him  with  a  mere  smat 
tering  of  knowledge.  *  *  *  Licentious  in  his  disposition, 
he  was  impatient  of  the  restraints  either  of  government  or 
religion,  and  not  always  submissive  to  those  of  common 
decency.  *  *  *  A  little  circle  of  loose  persons  will  always 
gather  about  a  man  of  this  description.  Allen  was  surrounded 
by  a  herd  of  such  men.  *  *  *  At  length  he  determined  to 
become  an  instructor  of  the  public.  This  was  a  fatal  step.  He 
neither  understood  the  subject,  nor  knew  how  to  write.  *  * 
He  named  his  book  the  '  Oracles  of  Reason/  after  a  wretched 
publication  of  Charles  Blount,  one  of  the  pertest  and  weakest 
of  all  the  British  infidels,  but  probably  Allen's  favorite  author, 
and  not  improbably  the  only  one  whose  works  he  had  read. 
This  was  the  first  formal  publication  in  the  United  States 
openly  directed  against  the  Christian  religion.  When  it  came 
out  I  read  as  much  of  it  as  I  could  summon  patience  to  read. 
Decent  nonsense  may  probably  amuse  an  idle  hour;  but  brutal 
nonsense  can  be  only  read  as  an  infliction  of  penal  justice.  The 
style  was  crude  and  vulgar;  and  the  sentiments  were  coarser 
than  the  style.  The  arguments  were  flimsy  and  unmeaning, 
and  the  conclusions  were  fastened  upon  the  premises  by  mere 
force."* 

The  Doctor  names  Salisbury  as  Ethan  Allen's  birthplace.  But 
Ancient  Woodbury,  Litchfield,  and  other  places  have  also 


«  "  Dwight's  Travels,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  406-7. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  91 

'claimed  the  same  honor.  "He  was  a  native  of  this  county,"  says 
Chief  Justice  Church  in  his  Litchfield  Centennial  address ;  but 
he,  too,  must  have  his  fling  at  the  old  hero,  for  he  tells  us :  "The 
town  of  his  nativity  has  been  a  matter  of  dispute,  but  it  is  not 
a  question  worth  solving."  If  Ethan  Allen  was  "  licentious  in 
his  disposition,"  Dr.  Dwight  should  have  furnished  proof  of 
so  grave  a  charge.  His  ingenuous  nature  rendered  his  life 
like  an  open  book,  but  nowhere  is  licentiousness  nor  a  viola 
tion  of  the  "  restraints  of  common  decency  "  to  be  found  in  the 
acts  of  Ethan  Allen.  "  The  herd  of  loose  persons,"  with  whom 
the  Doctor  contemptuously  surrounded  him,  were  the  Green 
Mountain  Boys,  rough  foresters,  it  is  true,  but  so  were  the 
Spartans  of  antiquity ;  so  were  the  inhabitants  of  the  Swiss  Can 
tons  in  the  age  of  William  Tell ;  and  so  were  many  of  the  early 
American  Colonists — those  "  embattled  farmers  "  whose  valor 
contributed  chiefly  to  the  independence  of  the  United  States. 
The  services  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  were  freely  and 
effectively  rendered  in  the  Revolution.  Seth  Warner  was  one 
of  the  persons  that  surrounded  Allen,  and  indeed  was  his  own 
cousin.  Warner's  services  at  the  battle  of  Bennington  have 
placed  his  name  with  that  of  the  hero  of  the  victory,  General 
Stark,  in  the  first  rank  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution.  Such 
a  man  deserved  better  requital  than  to  be  classed  opprobriously 
among  a  "  herd  of  loose  persons."  Matthew  Lyon  was  another 
of  the  associates  of  Ethan  Allen,  having  married  his  niece,  and 
Lyon  was  neither  a  roysterer  nor  "tavern-haunter,"  but  a 
strictly  sober  and  highly  intellectual  man.a 

Allen's  infidelity  deserved  censure,  and  Dr.  Dwight  is  not 
too  severe  on  his  quixotic  "  Oracles  of  Reason,"  over  which 
happily  the  veil  of  oblivion  has  long  since  fallen.  The  Doctor 
is  perhaps  mistaken  in  ascribing  to  Charles  Blount  the  respon- 

« Letter  of  Mr.  F.  A.  Wilson,  of  Kentucky. 


92  MATTHEW   LYON 

sibility  for  his  theological  vagaries.  Allen's  model  was 
Thomas  Young,  the  Philadelphia  sceptic.  They  were  acquain 
tances  and  correspondents,  and  Allen  was  a  close  reader  of 
Young's  infidel  publications. 

Even  the  glorious  achievement  of  this  whirlwind  of  a  man 
in  capturing  Ticonderoga  is  slightingly  dismissed  by  Dr. 
Dwight.  "  In  the  bustling  part  of  the  American  Revolution," 
he  says,  "Colonel  Allen  made  some  noise."  Was  there  a  quiet 
part?  Is  bustle  or  noise  out  of  place  in  a  revolution?  Who 
has  heard  of  that  paradox  in  resounding  war?  A  cold  recital 
of  the  facts  of  such  a  soul-stirring  achievement  of  American 
valor  as  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga,  premised  by  a  paradox, 
is  all  that  the  hero  of  such  an  enterprise  receives  at  the  hands 
of  the  Yale  philosopher. 

Dr.  Dwight  is  equally  severe  on  the  State  government.  The 
town  of  Vergennes  was  founded  by  Ethan  Allen,  and  received 
its  name  from  him  as  a  tribute  to  the  Count  de  Vergennes, 
"  whom,"  says  the  Doctor,  "  ardent,  uninformed  and  short 
sighted  Americans  at  that  time  believed  to  be  a  friend  of  this 
country." 

Whether  on  account  of  its  French  name,  or  other  equally 
repellent  cause,  the  Doctor  conceived  an  antipathy  for  the 
place.  "  A  traveler,"  he  says,  "  is  compelled  to  laugh  at  this 
freak  of  Colonel  Allen.  *  *  *  Vergennes  was  indeed  in 
tended  for  the  seat  of  government,  and  so  are  half  a  dozen  other 
places.  Whether  any  of  them  will  ever  become  what  they  so 
ardently  covet;  whether  there  will  be  a  seat  of  government  in 
the  State,  or  whether  the  Legislature  will  continue  to  roll  on 
wheels  from  town  to  town,  as  they  have  hitherto  done;  no 
human  foresight  can  determine.  The  Legislature  itself  has 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  93 

been  at  least  equally  freakish  with  the  projector  of  this  city; 
and  seems  at  present  little  more  inclined  to  settle  than  any 
other  bird  of  passage."* 

Vermont  and  Vermonters  had  evidently  fallen  from  Dr. 
Dwight's  good  graces.  A  better  acquaintance  with  their  his 
tory,  their  struggles,  privations,  and  final  success  in  establish 
ing  their  State  might  have  softened  the  Doctor's  splenetic 
temper,  and  saved  him  from  the  utterance  of  many  things 
about  them  that  were  ungracious,  and  of  some  things  that  were 
not  just.  A  single  further  extract  will  serve  to  illustrate  his 
acerbity  in  writing  about  the  early  settlers  of  Vermont.  "  A 
considerable  number,"  he  writes,  "  of  those  who  first  claimed 
and  acquired  influence  in  the  State  of  Vermont  during  its  early 
periods,  were  men  of  loose  principles  and  loose  morals.  They 
were  either  professed  infidels,  Universalists,  or  persons  who 
exhibited  the  morals  of  these  two  classes  of  mankind.  We 
cannot  expect,  therefore,  to  find  the  public  measures  of  Ver 
mont  distinguished  at  that  time  by  any  peculiar  proofs  of  in 
tegrity  or  justice."'6 

After  these  animadversions  so  unexpected  from  such  a  writer, 
it  is  reassuring  to  be  told  in  conclusion  that  "  the  religious,  and 
of  course  the  moral,  state  of  Vermont  is  improving."6 

Not  thus  speaks  the  American  Goldsmith,  Washington  Irv 
ing,  of  the  leader  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys.  After  referring 
to  the  border  strifes  between  Yorkers  and  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Hampshire  Grants,  down  to  the  period  of  the  Revolution, 
Washington  Irving  says :  "  Thus  Ethan  Allen  was  becoming  a 

°"  Dwight's  Travels,"  Vol.  II,  p.  421. 
blbid,  Vol.  II,  p.  471. 
Vol.   II,  p.  474- 


94  MATTHEW  LYON 

kind  of  Robin  Hood  among  the  mountains  when  the  present 
crisis  changed  the  relative  position  of  things  as  if  by  magic. 
Ethan  Allen  at  once  stepped  forward  a  patriot,  and  volunteered 
with  his  Green  Mountain  Boys  to  serve  in  the  popular  cause. 
He  was  well  fitted  for  the  enterprise  in  question  by  his  ex 
perience  as  a  frontier  champion,  his  robustness  of  mind  and 
body,  and  his  fearless  spirit.  He  had  a  kind  of  rough  elo 
quence  also  that  was  very  effective  with  his  followers.  '  His 
style/  says  one,  who  knew  him  personally,  '  was  a  singular 
compound  of  local  barbarisms,  scriptural  phrases,  and  oriental 
wildness ;  and  though  unclassic  and  sometimes  ungrammatical, 
was  highly  animated  and  forcible/  "a 

After  Ethan  Allen  came  back  from  captivity,  he  visited  Gen 
eral  Washington  at  Valley  Forge,  and  was  received  by  the 
Father  of  his  Country  with  distinguished  marks  of  attention. 
So  much  interest  did  Washington  feel  in  him  that  he  sought 
preferment  for  Allen  in  the  Continental  Army,  and  wrote  a 
strong  letter  on  the  subject  to  the  President  of  Congress,  an 
unusual  step  for  him  to  take  in  behalf  of  any  one.  "  His  forti 
tude  and  firmness,"  he  wrote,  "  seem  to  have  placed  him  out 
of  the  reach  of  misfortune.  There  is  an  original  something 
about  him  that  commands  admiration,  and  his  long  captivity 
and  sufferings  have  only  served  to  increase  if  possible  his  en 
thusiastic  zeal.  He  appears  very  desirous  of  rendering  his 
services  to  the  States,  and  of  being  employed ;  and  at  the  same 
time  he  does  not  discover  any  ambition  for  high  rank."6 

Timothy  Dwight's  opinion  of  Ethan  Allen  evidently  was  not 
shared  by  George  Washington,  or  Washington  Irving. 

a  Irving's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  404-5. 
6  Ibid,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  378. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  95 

Of  the  French  the  Doctor  spoke  with  still  greater  acrimony 
than  of  Ethan  Allen  or  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys.  But  it 
should  be  remembered  he  was  a  Federalist  in  politics,  and 
these  unlocked  for  explosions  of  wrath  on  the  part  of  a  man 
distinguished  at  other  times  for  gentleness  of  disposition  and 
urbanity  of  manners,  may  be  attributed  rather  to  party  excite 
ment  than  to  a  purpose  to  treat  others  unfairly. 

What  Dr.  Dwight  says  in  relation  to  the  French  setting  up 
unfounded  claims  to  the  country  along  Lake  Champlain  is  not 
supported  by  history  or  public  law.  Samuel  Champlain  dis 
covered  Lake  Champlain  on  the  4th  of  July,  1609,  and  pushed 
his  explorations  as  far  south  as  Ticonderoga  and  Lake  George, 
four  years  before  the  Dutch  settled  New  York,  and  eleven 
years  before  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth.  By  the  laws 
of  nations,  universally  recognized,  the  discovery  of  lands  in 
the  new  world  vested  undisputed  title  to  those  lands  in  the 
nation  under  the  authority  of  which  the  discoverer  had  set  out. 

If  Dr.  Dwight's  strictures  on  Ethan  Allen  are  met  by  the 
conflicting  testimony  of  General  Washington,  his  animadversions 
upon  the  French  are  confronted  by  the  same  high  authority. 
In  a  letter  to  Colonel  Laurens,  sent  out  as  Special  American  En- 
yoy  to  France  to  solicit  assistance  in  the  crisis  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  Washington  said:  "  This  country  has  been  brought  to  a 
crisis  which  renders  immediate,  efficacious  assistance  from 
abroad  indispensable  to  its  safety.  It  is  impossible  to  extricate 
ourselves  from  our  embarrassments.  There  is  an  absolute 
necessity  of  speedy  and  ample  relief,  a  relief  not  within  the 
compass  of  our  means."a  He  also  wrote  to  Dr.  Franklin, 
then  American  Minister  to  France,  and  said :  "  The  opposition 

^Diplomatic  Correspondence  Am.  Rev.  IX,  211.  Sparks's  Writings 
of  Washington  VII.  370. 


96  MATTHEW   LYON 

of  America  to  England  must  soon  cease,  if  our  allies  cannot 
afford  us  that  effectual  aid,  particularly  in  money  and  in  a 
naval  superiority,  which  is  now  solicited.""  In  another  and 
still  more  urgent  letter  Washington  declared :  "  If  France 
delays  a  powerful  and  timely  aid  in  this  critical  posture  of  our 
affairs,  it  will  avail  us  nothing  that  she  attempt  it  hereafter. 
In  a  word,  we  are  at  the  end  of  our  tether,  and  now  or  never 
our  deliverance  must  come."6 

And  it  did  come,  though  Dr.  Dwight  seemed  to  have  for 
gotten  it.  France  sent  us  ten  thousand  men,  a  powerful  fleet, 
and  eight  millions  of  money,  and  with  this  timely  aid  the 
Revolution  was  closed  at  Yorktown  in  victory.  When  the 
intelligence  of  Cornwallis's  surrender  reached  Europe,  France 
went  wild  with  joyous  acclamations,  and  Paris  was  illuminated 
for  three  nights  in  succession.  Salutes  of  guns,  bonfires,  and 
civic  and  military  processions  witnessed  the  enthusiasm  that 
welled  up  from  the  hearts  of  the  French  people  in  every  city 
and  town  in  the  kingdom. 

But  Dr.  Dwight's  mind  was  evidently  warped  by  the  peculiar 
religious  opinions  of  which  he  was  the  ablest  expounder  in  his 
day.  Could  he  only  have  emancipated  his  great  intellectual 
powers  from  such  a  thraldom,  and  viewed  the  events  and 
persons  he  so  eloquently  portrays,  as  a  philosopher  and  as  a 
statesman,  he  would  have  done  more  justice  to  the  patriotic 
services  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  and  their  intrepid  leaders, 
and  recognized  in  Matthew  Lyon  the  extraordinary  ability 
which,  as  I  shall  show  in  subsequent  chapters,  raised  kim  to 
eminence,  and  entitled  him  to  the  gratitude  of  posterity. 

»The  Writings  of  Washington,  VII,  pp.  379»  etc. 
*Ibid.    Dip.  Cor.  Am.  Rev. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  97 


CHAPTER  III. 

HAMPSHIRE  GRANTS  CONTROVERSY  —  ETHAN  ALLEN  TAKES 
TICONDEROGA  —  LYON  IN  THE  STORMING  PARTY  —  NEXT 
SEES  SERVICE  IN  CANADA  UNDER  SETH  WARNER  —  THE  JERI 
CHO  AFFAIR  —  RETREAT  FROM  TICONDEROGA  —  AMERICAN 
DEFEAT  AT  HUBBARDTON  —  LYON  GUIDES  ST.  CLAIR  SAFELY 
TO  HUDSON  RIVER. 

T  N  the  spring  of  1774  Lyon  purchased  lands  in  the  township  of 
Wallingford,  Vermont,  afterwards  known  as  Lyon's  planta 
tion,  and  took  up  his  residence  upon  this  purchase  situated 
about  thirty  miles  from  Ticonderoga.a  In  Hiland  Hall's 
"  Early  History  of  Vermont,"  that  author  mentions  a  patent 
for  32,000  acres  of  land  in  the  townships  of  Clarendon  and 
Wallingford  issued  by  Governor  Tryon,  of  New  York,  to  Ben 
jamin  Spencer,  of  Durham,  on  the  7th  of  January,  1772.  But 
Mr.  Hall  was  in  error.  There  was  no  New  York  patent  in 
1772  for  land  in  Wallingford.  In  a  letter  to  Lord  Dartmouth, 
dated  New  York,  July  i,  1773,  Governor  Tryon  says:  "  There 
are  fifteen  townships  granted  by  New  Hampshire,  and  which 
have  been  confirmed  by  New  York/'6  and  "  that  there  are  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  townships  of  six  miles  square  granted  by 
New  Hampshire  besides  those  fifteen  which  have  been  con 
firmed  by  New  York."c  The  fifteen  townships  are  enumerated, 

a  Vermont  Historical  Society  Collections,  Vol.  I,  p.  16. 
&  Doct.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  506. 
c  Ibid,  Vol.  IV,  p.  507. 


98  MATTHEW   LYON 

and  Wallingford  is  not  one  of  them;  but  directly  following  is 
another  list  of  twelve,  prefaced  by  the  following  remark: 
"  Townships  for  which  confirmations  have  not  issued,  altho' 
long  since  advised  to  be  granted."  In  this  list  appears  the 
name  of  Wallingford.0 

Title  by  intrusion  or  occupancy,  or  what  a  celebrated  son  of 
Vermont  of  a  later  age,  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  called 
"  Squatter  Sovereignty,"  was  the  best  title  many  early  settlers 
could  boast.  To  this  class  belonged  one  Scott,  the  first  comer 
in  Wallingford,6  whose  rude  log  cabin  is  described  in  verse  by 
Tom  Rowley,  the  Shoreham  bard,  writer  of  unpremeditated 
homely  lays  which  stirred  the  hearts  of  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys  only  less  deeply  than  the  wild  eloquence  of  Ethan  Allen. 

Abraham  Jackson,  commonly  called  the  Deacon,  was  a  con 
temporary  of  Lyon,  arriving  at  Wallingford  some  months  be 
fore  him,  being  the  first  legal  settler  under  a  Hampshire  Grants 
patent.  But  John  Hopkins,  of  Salem,  New  York,  whose  piety 
was  once  so  scandalized  by  a  profane  laborer  that  he  drove  him 
out  of  the  field  with  a  pitchfork,  preceded  Jackson  by  nearly 
three  years,  having  his  home  on  West  Hill.  The  Ives  family 
were  well  represented  in  primitive  Wallingford,  Abraham  Ives, 
Lent  Ives  and  Nathaniel  Ives  being  contemporaries  and  neigh 
bors  of  Matthew  Lyon.  Daniel  and  Benjamin  Bradley,  and 
Joseph  Randall  and  Joseph  Jackson  also  figured  among  the 
early  settlers  of  the  town.  A  particular  friend  of  Matthew 
Lyon  lived  in  the  next  township.  This  was  Rev.  Bethuel  Chit- 
tenden,  of  St.  Stephen's  parish,  in  Tinmouth,  brother  of  the 
Governor.  Here,  too,  were  found  at  that  day  Vermont  pio- 

albid,  p.  477- 

6  V.  H.  M.,  Vol.  III. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  99 

neers  whose  names  are  handed  down  among  the  pillars  of  the 
infant  State.  Samuel  Mattocks,  Stephen  Royce,  Elisha  Clark 
and  Samuel  Chipman,  to  mention  no  more,  were  there  to 
spread  the  salt  of  Puritan  virtue  in  the  wilderness,  and  to  re 
claim  it  from  savage  occupation.  The  last  named,  Samuel 
Chipman,  was  an  honest  blacksmith,  whose  famous  son,  Na 
thaniel  Chipman,  became  a  judge  and  senator  of  renown.  He 
was  in  frequent  rivalry  in  politics  with  Matthew  Lyon,  and  once 
had  a  sharp  personal  collision  with  him,  Chipman  being  as 
uncompromising  a  Federalist  as  Lyon  was  a  stern  Democrat. 
A  daughter  of  the  Nathaniel  Ives  here  mentioned,  Mrs.  Me- 
linda  Chatterton,  survived  almost  to  the  present  age,  dying  in 
1867,  in  her  97th  year;  although  a  daughter  of  Matthew  Lyon, 
Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Roe,  widow  of  Rev.  John  Roe,  of  Illinois,  died 
twenty  years  later,  in  1887.  If  Mrs-  Chatterton  was  a  delight 
ful  reminiscent  of  early  Wallingford,  counting  her  long  years 
by  taking  a  journey  back  in  memory  "  to  the  doorless  and 
hearthless  log  house  by  the  Roaring  Brook  "  which  meanders 
through  the  village,0  Mrs.  Roe,  with  the  ready  pen  of  an  author 
and  a  marvellous  recollection  of  the  stirring  historic  events  in 
her  father's  life,  furnished  the  present  writer  with  particulars 
concerning  Matthew  Lyon  which  the  world  would  never  have 
known  of  but  for  that  estimable  old  lady.0 

Mr.  Joel  C.  Baker,  of  Rutland,  one  of  the  speakers  at  the 
Wallingford  centennial  celebration  which  took  place  in  1873, 


"V.  H.  M.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  1174- 

bTwo  books  written  by  Mrs.  Roe  are  in  the  author's  possession, 
"  Aunt  Leanna  or  Early  Scenes  in  Kentucky,"  Chicago,  published  for 
the  author,  1855,  and  "  Recollections  of  Frontier  Life,"  Rockford, 
Illinois,  Gazette  Publishing  House,  1885. 


IOO  MATTHEW    LYON 

selected  for  his  theme  the  life  and  public  services  of  Matthew 
Lyon,  "  who,"  as  we  are  told  by  Rev.  H.  H.  Saunderson, 
"  for  a  time  had  been  a  citizen  of  Wallingford."a 

Like  the  titles  of  most  of  his  neighbors,  Lyon's  title  to  his 
homestead  in  the  town  was  acquired  under  a  charter  issued  in 
1761  by  the  royal  governor  of  New  Hampshire,  Benning  Went- 
worth.  Many  New  York  officials,  including  several  pre-revo- 
lutionary  governors,  had  become  personally  interested  in  Ver 
mont  lands  and  granted  them  not  only  to  civilians  but  to 
soldiers  of  the  old  French  war,  a  brisk  business  having  been 
carried  on  in  lands  on  the  west  side  of  the  Green  Mountains, 
especially  in  these  military  grants.  The  patentees  were  mostly 
foreigners  who  went  back  to  Europe  after  the  treaty  of  Paris, 
and  for  trifling  sums  assigned  their  patents  before  departure  to 
the  officials  who  issued  them.  The  latter  were  determined  to 
profit  by  the  speculation.  In  this  way  the  seeds  were  sown  of 
the  celebrated  Hampshire  Grants  controversy. 

Governor  Colden's  greed  and  Ethan  Allen's  pugnacity  were 
aroused,  farmers  and  land-jobbers  were  in  conflict,  and  Puritan 
and  Patroon  were  "miching  mallecho,"  and  reviving  a  vendetta 
almost  as  fierce  as  that  between  ancient  Iroquois  and  Algon 
quin  along  the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain. 

It  has  been  asserted  by  several  writers  that  Vermont  had  the 
roughest  experience  of  all  the  struggling  Colonies.  It  would 
be  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  Vermont  was  the  most  for 
tunate  one  of  them  all.  A  combination  of  peculiar  circum 
stances  produced  this  result,  (i)  It  was  fortunate  in  its  gallant 
and  hardy  defenders,  although  Yorkers  called  Ethan  Allen 
another  Robin  Hood,  and  offered  a  reward  for  his  head;  (2) 


«V.  H.  M.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  1183. 


THE    HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  IOI 

fortunate  in  its  perilous  situation  midway  between  Canada  and 
the  United  States,  for  out  of  the  "  nettle  danger  to  pluck  this 
flower  safety  "  was  rendered  comparatively  easy  by  the  rivalry 
of  the  two  great  powers;  (3)  fortunate  even  in  the  number  of 
its  foes,  as  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,"  New  York  and 
British  America  each  sought  in  opposition  to  the  others  to 
capture  the  prize  for  itself;  (4)  fortunate  in  freedom  from  the 
burden  of  debt  and  taxation  under  which  for  the  twelve  years 
of  the  Confederation  the  thirteen  States  suffered  and  groaned ; 
(5)  finally,  with  the  wrath  of  the  United  States  provoked  by 
the  Haldimand  Intrigue,  which  many  to  this  day  style  incip 
ient  treason,  and  with  American  peace  and  independence 
established,  and  New  York,  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp 
shire  left  free  to  deal  with  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  and  dis 
member  and  divide  up  their  portion  among  themselves,  even 
then  the  supreme  good  fortune  of  Vermont  placed  the  defiant 
little  rebel  against  both  England  and  the  United  States  upon  a 
more  solid  and  enduring  foundation  than  ever  before. 

The  balance  of  power  in  the  American  Union  was  already  in 
1791  looming  up  between  North  and  South,  a  gaunt  spectre, 
which  finally,  seventy  years  later,  in  1861,  overshadowed  and 
involved  the  land  in  frightful  war  and  slaughter.  Alexander 
Hamilton  perceived  the  necessity  of  a  check  to  southern  pre 
ponderance  likely  to  follow  the  admission  of  Kentucky  into  the 
Union,  and  thus  New  York,  an  ancient  enemy,  furnished  the 
master  spirit  to  champion  the  cause  of  Vermont,  and  secure  its 
admission  likewise  as  a  free  and  independent  State. 

Was  she  not  fortune's  favorite  child,  this  mountain  com 
monwealth,  when  all  influences,  whether  internal  and  friendly, 

aNew  Hampshire  Petition,  Doct.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  4112-13. 


IO2  MATTHEW   LYON 

or  external  and  unfriendly,  conspired  as  though  by  manifest 
destiny  to  propel  her  forward  into  the  charmed  circle  of  the 
Confederacy?"' 

It  is  singular  that  no  one  should  have  yet  written  a  full  and 
satisfactory  account  of  the  Hampshire  Grants  controversy.5 
The  dispute  extended  over  a  period  of  forty  years.  To  Ben- 
ning  Wentworth  the  grants  were  a  rich  source  of  revenue. 
After  he  had  made  a  fortune  out  of  them,  he  turned  over  the 
dispute  to  the  grantees,  and  Yorkers  and  Green  Mountain 
Boys  soon  came  to  blows  and  were  long  in  armed  antagonism. 
Governor  Tryon  issued  doughty  proclamations  fixing  a  price 
on  Allen's  head,  and  Allen  retorted  with  counter  proclamations 
of  outlawry  against  his  New  York  enemies.  Now  some  myr 
midon  of  the  Albany  officials  seizes  and  brings  in  an  unwary 

aln  his  address  at  the  dedication  of  the  monument  to  Nathaniel 
Chipman  at  Tinmouth,  Vermont,  October  3,  1873,  Hon.  E.  P.  Walton, 
of  Montpelier,  said:  "  Chipman  was  anxious  for  the  adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  and  the  admission  of  Vermont  to  the  Union,  but 
he  believed  that  this  would  strip  multitudes  of  Vermonters  of  their 
possessions,  as  the  ultimate  decision  of  their  land-titles  would  fall  to 
the  United  States  courts.  At  the  same  time  Hamilton  feared  that  the 
requisite  number  of  States  might  not  be  secured  for  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  Constitution,  and  he  therefore  desired  the  vote  of  Ver 
mont.  Still  further,  he  looked  to  the  selection  of  New  York  city  as 
the  capital  of  the  Union,  and  hoped  to  strengthen  the  chances  for 
success  by  the  aid  of  Vermont.  It  was  obvious  to  both  that  Chitten- 
den  and  his  friends,  who  ruled  Vermont "  (one  of  the  foremost  of 
these  friends  of  Governor  Chittenden  was  his  son-in-law  Matthew 
Lyon),  "  would  never  join  the  Federal  Union  if  it  was  to  be  at  the 
sacrifice  of  a  large  portion  of  the  people.  The  only  possible  solution 
of  the  difficulties  which  baffled  Chipman  and  Hamilton  was  to  remove 
the  claim  of  the  New  York  grantees  to  lands  in  Vermont  by  buying 
them  out.  And  thus  the  controversy  was  settled,  at  a  cheap  price, 
$30,000,  to  Vermont,  and  a  large  loss  to  the  New  York  grantees."  Ver 
mont  Historical  Magazine,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  1158. 

&  Prof.  J.  D.  Butler's  1846  Address  before  the  Vt.  Hist.  Soc. 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  IO3 

Green  Mountain  Boy;  straightway  Allen  retaliates  by  seizing 
the  first  Yorker  and  subjecting  him  to  "  a  castigation  with  the 
twigs  of  the  wilderness."  Appeals  were  made  to  the  mother 
country  to  settle  the  dispute,  but  owing  to  the  greed  of  land 
speculators  on  both  sides,  and  the  vacillating  and  selfish  policy 
of  the  English  Board  of  Trade,  predatory  border  war  continued 
for  years,  and  the  dispute  promised  to  be  as  interminable  as  the 
similar  Schleswig-Holstein  dispute  in  more  recent  European 
history.  Then  came  the  American  revolution  to  swallow  up 
everything  else  in  colonial  life  except  the  Hampshire  Grants 
controversy  which,  although  postponed  in  presence  of  the 
grander  struggle,  still  survived  in  undiminished  vigor.  The 
Confederation  was  formed  and  after  twelve  years  gave  place  to 
the  present  happy  Constitution,,  and  still  the  fight  went  on  in 
the  Hampshire  Grants.  The  Federal  Government  was  two 
years  of  age,  and  that  sphinx  of  the  Green  Mountains  re 
mained  as  defiant  and  vexatious  as  ever.  When  it  came  to  an 
end  at  last,  as  sooner  or  later  even  a  sphinx  must  do,  it  took 
its  quietus  by  compromise  and  dropped  from  view  unsolved. 

The  history  of  this  remarkable  conflict  well  deserves  a  his 
torian.  The  national  historians,  Bancroft  and  Hildreth,  pass 
it  over  with  a  few  hurried  sentences.  James  Duane,  one  of  the 
early  Mayors  of  New  York  city,  in  his  pamphlet  entitled  "  A 
State  of  the  Right  of  the  Colony  of  New  York  with  respect  to 
its  Eastern  Boundary ;  "  Henry  B.  Dawson,  in  his  "  Historical 
Magazine,"  and  a  few  other  New  York  writers  have  con 
tributed  interesting  but  partisan  views  upon  the  subject.  On 
the  other  side  Ethan  Allen  in  his  "  Brief  Narrative,"  Ira  Allen 
and  Dr.  Williams  in  their  histories  of  Vermont,  and  Hiland 
Hall  in  his  "  Early  History  "  of  the  same  State,  and  some 


IO4  MATTHEW   LYON 

others,  have  entered  the  lists  against  the  New  York  writers,  and 
presented  to  the  world  ingenious  pleas  for  Vermont.  But 
these  controversial  books  and  essays  cannot  be  accepted  as 
impartial  by  the  serious  student  of  American  history.  Perhaps 
the  nearest  approach  cm  this  subject,  to  what  is  yet  a  desidera 
tum  in  the  historical  literature  of  the  country,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  "  Life  of  Ethan  Allen  "  by  Jared  Sparks.  The  materials 
were  rather  scant,  and  many  important  facts  since  brought  to 
light  were  not  yet  accessible  when  Mr.  Sparks  wrote.  It  must 
be  added  that  he  shows  a  considerable  bias  in  favor  of  the 
Green  Mountain  Boys,  but  perhaps  on  the  whole  his  book  con 
tains  the  most  satisfactory  discussion  of  the  origin  and  history 
of  the  Hampshire  Grants  controversy  which  has  been  pub 
lished. 

A  memoir  of  Matthew  Lyon,  although  he  was  one  of  the 
leaders  in  the  struggle,  affords  neither  proper  space  nor  oppor 
tunity  for  an  investigation  of  this  interesting  chapter  of  Ameri 
can  history.  A  hint  or  two  on  the  subject  must  here  suffice, 
and  indeed  is  necessary  to  elucidate  some  events  in  Colonel 
Lyon's  career  at  this  period. 

Which  of  the  contending  parties  was  right,  and  which  wrong 
in  the  doughty  provincial  war?  Or  was  the  right  or  wrong  of 
the  matter  clearly  with  neither  side?  Let  impartial  students, 
to  whom  the  question  really  belongs,  examine  and  decide.  In 
a  nutshell  the  whole  inquiry  hinges  on  the  proper  answer  to  a 
single  question: 

Were  the  boundaries  claimed  by  Massachusetts  under  the 
Devon  Charter  actually  granted  to  that  Colony  by  James  the 
First;  or  were  the  boundaries  of  New  Netherland  claimed  by 
New  York  actually  granted  by  the  Charter  of  Charles  the 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  IO5 

Second  to  his  brother  the  Duke  of  York?  That  is  the  crucial 
question  of  the  whole  controversy. 

While  New  Hampshire  and  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  were 
involved  in  dispute  with  New  York,  the  contention  of  Benning 
Wentworth  was  that  New  Hampshire  had  an  extension  of  the 
same  western  limits  as  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts.  He 
made  the  mistake  of  treating  the  Connecticut  line  as  though 
prescribed  by  a  British  charter.  Such,  however,  was  not  the 
fact.  That  line  was  the  result  of  an  agreement  entered  into 
with  New  York  in  1684,  and  hence  the  question  is  narrowed, 
as  here  stated,  to  Massachusetts  and  New  York. 

The  Charter  of  Charles  the  Second  to  the  Duke  of  York, 
March  12,  1664,  comprehended  the  same  eastern  boundary, 
namely,  the  west  bank  of  the  Connecticut  river,  as  was  con 
firmed  to  New  York  by  the  decree  of  George  the  Third  in 
1764,  just  one  century  later.  That  grant  was  never  annulled, 
and  the  territory  now  known  as  the  State  of  Vermont  was  em 
braced  within  the  chartered  limits  of  New  York.  But  equit 
able  rights  are  sometimes  merged  in  adverse  possession.  The 
greed  of  Albany  officials  alienated  the  sympathies  of  the  British 
ministry,  and  the  utterances  not  only  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
but  of  the  King  himself,  began  to  betray  sympathy  with  the 
Green  Mountain  Boys.  On  the  other  hand,  Benning  Went 
worth,  Governor  of  New  Hampshire,  had  an  itching  palm 
quite  equal  to  that  of  Governor  Colden,  of  New  York,  and 
between  the  years  1749  and  1764  the  former  had  issued  patents 
for  130  townships  in  the  Hampshire  Grants. 

Besides  the  fees  received  from  patentees,  Wentworth  was  in 
the  habit  of  setting  apart  for  himself  5oo-acre  reservations  in 
most  of  these  several  townships.  Speculators  on  both  sides 


106  MATTHEW   LYON 

thus  involved  the  merits  of  the  controversy  in  the  greatest  per 
plexity.  The  English  Board  of  Trade  advised  the  King  and 
ministry  to  refuse  compliance  with  New  York's  requisition  for 
a  military  force  to  quell  the  "  Bennington  Mob."  Generals 
Haldimand  and  Gage  when  called  upon  by  the  Governor  of 
New  York  to  furnish  troops  against  the  Green  Mountain  Boys 
declined  to  obey  the  requisition.  Thus  encouraged  by  the 
mother  country,  Ethan  Allen  and  his  followers  not  only  drove 
New  York  grantees  from  the  disputed  territory,  but  repulsed 
sheriffs,  surveyors  and  other  officials  as  often  as  they  appeared 
within  the  limits  of  the  Grants. 

A  change  of  policy,  remarkable  as  it  was  sudden,  later  on 
occurred  in  the  British  ministry.  Lord  Dartmouth  expressed 
diplomatic  alarm  at  the  concurrence  of  lawless  banditti  from  all 
parts  of  America  on  the  Hampshire  Grants,  adding  insincere 
sympathy  for  New  York  in  the  teeth  of  his  former  declarations 
upon  the  subject.  This  weak  reversal  of  ministerial  policy  was 
due  entirely  to  a  cause  independent  of  the  rights  of  either  party. 
The  American  revolution  was  beginning  to  shake  the  sea-girt 
isle  from  end  to  end,  and  it  was  discovered  that  Ethan  Allen 
was  an  ardent  Whig,  while  Governor  Golden  was  an  equally 
ardent  Loyalist.  Change  of  front  came  too  late  to  benefit  New 
York;  the  mischief  had  been  done  by  a  vacillating  policy  of 
makeshifts  and  procrastination  on  the  part  of  the  English 
Board  of  Trade,  the  notorious  inefficiency  of  which,  not  only 
in  this  dispute,  but  in  its  transactions  with  the  whole  thirteen 
Colonies,  proved  not  the  least  potent  auxiliary  to  American 
independence. 

Massachusetts  denied  vigorously  that  the  eastern  boundary 
of  New  York  was  the  west  side  of  Connecticut  river;  on  the 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  IO/ 

contrary  it  maintained  that  its  own  western  boundary  extended 
to  a  line  within  twenty  miles  of  the  Hudson  river  by  virtue  of 
the  patent  granted  at  Plymouth  in  the  county  of  Devon,  known 
as  the  Council  of  Devon,  by  James  the  First  in  the  eighteenth 
year  of  his  reign.  It  was  further  claimed  by  Massachusetts 
that  the  Council  of  Devon,  in  the  third  year  of  Charles  the  First, 
included  the  lands  in  dispute  in  a  grant  to  Sir  Henry  Roswell, 
Sir  John  Young,  Knight,  Thomas  Southcott,  and  others,  their 
assigns  forever;  that  the  said  disputed  territory  was  confirmed 
to  Massachusetts  by  Charles  the  First  in  the  fourth  year  of  his 
reign,  and  by  virtue  of  that  grant,  although  it  was  vacated  in 
Chancery  in  1684,  Massachusetts  was  seized  of  said  lands  at  the 
time  of  the  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York  who  could  not  infringe 
on  its  patent;  and  finally  that  the  territory  in  dispute  was 
granted  well  and  validly  to  Massachusetts  by  the  charter  of 
1693. 

The  pretensions  of  New  Hampshire  to  the  disputed  territory, 
granted  so  lavishly  by  Governor  Wentworth,  were  based  wholly 
upon  a  northward  extension  of  the  Massachusetts  line.  If  the 
claim  set  up  by  the  latter  Colony  to  a  western  boundary,  twenty 
miles  distant  from  the  Hudson  river,  was  a  valid  one,  the  juris 
diction  of  New  Hampshire  over  the  grants  in  question  was  not 
to  be  assailed  by  New  York,  but  so  far  as  that  Colony  was 
concerned  the  grants  of  Wentworth  conveyed  absolutely  an 
unclouded  fee-simple  title  to  the  purchasers  and  their  assigns 
forever. 

The  boundaries  of  the  government  of  New  Hampshire,  the 
only  royal  plantation  in  New  England,  were  defined  in  letters 
patent  of  George  the  Second  given  at  Whitehall  the  third  day 
of  July,  1741,  in  the  following  words: 


IO8  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  Our  province  of  New  Hampshire  within  our  dominions  of 
New  England  in  America,  bounded  on  the  south  side  by  a 
similar  curve  line,  pursuing  the  course  of  Merrimac  river  at 
three  miles  distance  on  the  north  side  thereof;  beginning  at  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  and  ending  at  a  point  due  north  of  a  place 
called  Pontucket  Falls;  and  by  a  straight  line  drawn  from 
thence  due  west  across  the  said  river  till  it  meets  with  our  other 
governments;  and  bounded  on  the  south  side  by  a  line  passing 
up  through  the  mouth  of  Piscataqua  Harbour,  and  up  the  mid 
dle  of  the  river  to  the  river  of  Newichwaunock,  part  of  which 
is  now  called  Salmon  Falls,  and  through  the  middle  of  the 
same  to  the  furthest  head  thereof;  and  from  thence  north  two 
degrees  westerly,  until  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  be 
finished  from  the  mouth  of  Piscataqua  Harbour  aforesaid,  or 
until  it  meets  with  our  other  governments." 

These  boundary  lines  of  New  Hampshire  were  thus  limited 
by  George  the  Second  in  their  extension  westward  and  north 
ward  by  his  majesty's  other  governments,  and  all  grants  of 
lands  westward  of  the  Connecticut  river  issued  by  Benning 
Wentworth  were  subject  to  those  limitations. 

The  extension  of  the  western  limits  of  Connecticut  afforded 
the  Governor  of  New  Hampshire  no  precedent,  since  Connecti 
cut  came  into  possession  of  a  western  limit  twenty  miles  east  of 
the  Hudson  river,  not  by  charter  from  the  Crown,  but  by  cove 
nant  and  agreement  with  New  York  in  1684,  afterwards  con 
firmed  by  King  William.  Under  that  agreement  New  York 
and  Connecticut  commissioners  ran  the  lines  and  marked  the 
bounds  and  monuments  between  the  two  Colonies  in  1725, 
thereby  fixing  the  eastern  boundary  of  New  York  at  a  point 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  IOO, 

twenty  miles  east  of  the  Hudson  river  as  far  north  as  the 
Colony  of  Connecticut  extended. 

With  this  brief  outline  of  the  jurisdictional  claims  of  Massa 
chusetts,  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire,  it  only  remains  to 
inquire  what  were  the  limits  of  New  York  in  the  same  direc 
tion,  before  passing  from  this  the  most  vexed  territorial  con 
troversy  in  our  Colonial  history. 

The  boundaries  of  New  York  are  given  in  a  "  Description  of 
New  Netherland  "  published  at  Amsterdam  in  1671,  which  the 
indefatigable  Dutch  historian,  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan,  con 
sidered  to  have  been  borrowed  from  Van  der  Donck's  famous 
account,  entitled  "  Beschryving  van  Nieuw  Nederlandt,"  which 
was  published  in  Holland  in  1656.  The  following  are  the 
limits  assigned  in  this  account  to  the  Dutch  province:  "  New 
Netherland  bounded  on  the  southwest  by  Virginia,  stretches 
on  the  northeast  to  New  England;  on  the  north  it  is 
washed  by  the  river  Canada,  and  on  the  coast  by  the  ocean; 
northwesterly,  inland,  it  remains  wholly  unknown.  The  first 
who  discovered  this  country  was  Henry  Hudson.  Engaged 
by  the  East  India  Company  to  find  out  a  passage  to  China 
north  of  America,  he  set  sail  with  the  yacht  "  Half  Moon  "  in 
the  year  1609.  In  front  of  Newfoundland  he  took  a  course 
directly  southwest,  entered  a  large  river,  there  met  two  men 
clothed  in  elk  skins,  and  subsequently  arrived  safe  at  Amster 
dam.  New  Netherland  being  thus  discovered,  divers  traders 
set  about  establishing  a  stable  trade  here.  Wherefore  they 
sought  for  and  obtained  a  charter  in  the  year  1614,  from  the 
States  General  at  The  Hague,  to  trade  to  New  Netherland  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  others. "a 


Doct.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  75  and  84. 


IIO  MATTHEW   LYON 

Hendrick  Hudson  sold  the  province  to  the  Dutch  soon  after 
he  discovered  it,  and  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  settled 
a  Colony  there  and  called  it  New  Netherland,  long  before  the 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  charters  were  granted.  In 
1660  the  English  captured  the  Colony  from  the  Dutch,  who 
recaptured  it  in  1673,  but  surrendered  it  in  the  following  year 
by  the  treaty  of  Breda  to  the  English  government.  Charles 
the  Second  thereupon  granted  a  Charter  again  to  the  Duke  of 
York  of  the  lands  recovered  from  the  Dutch.  The  limits  of 
the  Duke's  grant  appear  to  have  been  identical  with  those  of 
New  Netherland,  as  a  reference  to  the  charter  shows :  By  his 
several  letters  patent  of  the  I2th  of  March,  1663-4,  and  the  2Qth 
of  June,  1674,  Charles  the  Second  "  did  give  and  grant  in  fee 
unto  his  brother  James,  Duke  of  York,  certain  lands  of  which 
the  province  of  New  York  is  a  part;  containing  among  other 
tracts  '  all  that  island  or  islands,  commonly  called  by  the  sev 
eral  name  or  names  of  Matowacks  or  Long  Island,  situate  and 
being  toward  the  west  of  Cape  Cod  and  the  Narrow  Higgan- 
setts,  abutting  upon  the  mainland  between  the  two  rivers  there 
called  or  known  by  the  several  names  of  Connecticut  and 
Hudson's  rivers;  together  also  with  the  said  river  called  Hud 
son's  river,  and  all  the  land  from  the  west  side  of  Connecticut 
river  to  the  east  side  of  Delaware  Bay.'  "a 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  province  of  New  York  extended 
east  as  far  as  the  Connecticut  river.  The  historical  student, 
bearing  in  mind  the  respective  boundary  lines  here  sketched  of 
the  three  New  England  provinces  and  of  New  York,  will  have 
no  difficulty  in  forming  a  safe  judgment  upon  the  priority  of 
jurisdiction  over  the  territory  embraced  within  Vermont. 

« Ibid,  p.  346. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  III 

After  patient  research  and  impartial  investigation  among  the 
earliest  muniments  of  title  to  the  territory  under  consideration, 
it  is  the  opinion  of  the  present  writer  that  the  grants  made  by 
Governor  Benning  Wentworth  of  lands  westward  of  Con 
necticut  river,  known  as  the  Hampshire  Grants,  were  in  un 
mistakable  violation  of  the  territorial  rights  of  New  York. 

The  situation  of  the  settlers  on  the  Grants  was  rendered 
embarrassing  by  the  royal  decree  of  1764,  which  fixed  Con 
necticut  river  as  the  dividing  line  between  New  York  and  New 
Hampshire.  But  they  were  loyally  prepared  to  acknowledge 
New  York's  jurisdiction  over  their  territory,  however  repug 
nant  to  their  wishes  and  feelings  the  change  might  be.  Had 
the  New  York  officials  of  that  day  shown  sound  policy  and  not 
strained  the  King's  decision  in  their  favor  beyond  its  obvious 
meaning  and  purpose,  that  decree  would  have  been  the  happy 
issue  of  the  long  dispute,  and  the  Hampshire  Grants  would 
have  been  annexed  to  New  York,  and  to-day  would  form  a  part 
of  the  great  Empire  State.  But  land  speculators  in  the  cities 
of  Albany  and  New  York  went  farther  and  maintained  that  the 
decree  of  George  the  Third  not  only  fixed  the  jurisdiction,  but 
rendered  null  and  void  the  Wentworth  Grants.  In  other 
words,  these  land-jobbers  insisted  that  the  King's  act,  instead 
of  being  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  boundary  lines  between 
two  of  his  Colonies,  was  a  sweeping  act  of  universal  confiscation 
denounced  against  the  inhabitants  on  the  Hampshire  Grants. 
Formal  demands  were  made  for  a  surrender  of  the  lands,  and 
unsuccessful  attempts  on  the  part  of  New  York  patentees  to 
oust  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  were  of  common  occurrence. 
Ejectment  suits  followed,  and,  as  they  were  tried  at  Albany, 
decisions  were  always  in  favor  of  the  Yorkers.  Ethan  Allen, 


112  MATTHEW   LYON 

who  attended  at  the  trial  of  the  first  of  these  actions  with  the 
well-known  Connecticut  lawyer,  Jared  Ingersoll,  attorney  for 
the  defendant,  left  the  court  in  despair  of  obtaining  justice  be 
fore  such  a  tribunal.  "  Might  often  prevails  against  right," 
said  the  facetious  attorney-general  who  appeared  for  the 
Yorkers.  "  The  gods  of  the  valleys  are  not  the  gods  of  the 
hills,"  retorted  Allen.  Affecting  not  to  understand  these 
words,  the  attorney-general  questioned  him  further:  "  If  you 
will  accompany  me  to  the  hill  of  Bennington,"  replied  the  ready 
Green  Mountain  Boy,  "  the  sense  will  be  made  clear."a 

Submission  to  a  change  of  jurisdiction,  when  decreed  by  the 
King,  was  the  duty  of  loyal  subjects.  But  the  Green  Moun 
tain  Boys  were  not  to  be  forisfamiliated  in  a  strange  tribunal 
composed  exclusively  of  their  enemies.  Albany  judgments 
were  defied,  and  organized  resistance  to  what  the  inhabitants 
on  the  grants  called  a  scheme  of  plunder  met  the  sheriffs  who 
came  to  execute  the  writs.  The  Green  Mountain  Boys  would 
neither  submit  to  confiscation,  nor  consent  to  buy  over  again 
what  they  had  already  bought  and  paid  for  to  a  royal  governor 
whose  authority  was  derived  from  the  same  King  in  whose 
name  it  was  now  proposed  to  despoil  them. 

That  the  decree  of  1764  had  been  misconstrued  by  New  York 
was  made  evident  by  a  subsequent  order  of  the  King  in  Council 
(July  24,  1767)  commanding  the  Governor  of  New  York  to 
abstain  from  issuing  any  more  patents  in  the  disputed  territory 
until  the  royal  intentions  should  further  be  made  known, 
"  upon  pain  of  his  Majesty's  highest  displeasure."6 

alra  Allen's  "  History1  of  Vermont,"  p.  25.  Also  Sparks's  and 
De  Puy's  "Life  of  Ethan  Allen." 

&Doct.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  375-6. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  113 

And  now  "  the  Bennington  Mob,"  as  the  Yorkers  pppro- 
briously  called  all  Green  Mountain  Boys,  under  the  spirited 
leadership  of  Ethan  Allen,  proved  more  than  a  match  for  the 
Albany  officials  in  the  border  war  which  continued  to  rage  for 
several  succeeding  years.  At  length  the  Revolution  burst  forth, 
and  after  the  fight  at  Lexington  there  were  found  in  the  ranks 
of  Americans  no  longer  Yorkers  or  Green  Mountain  Boys; 
only  Tories  and  Sons  of  Liberty  remained.  Ethan  Allen, 
trained  to  war  from  his  boyhood,  stepped  forth  a  valiant  Whig, 
fell  like  a  thunderbolt  on  Ticonderoga,  electrified  the  continent 
by  its  capture,  and  crowned  the  exploit  with  the  best  epigram 
matic  speech  on  record.  "  By  what  authority?  "  inquired  the 
astonished  English  commandant  of  the  fortress  in  reply  to  the 
demand  for  surrender.  "In  the  name  of  the  Great  Jehovah  and 
the  Continental  Congress,"  was  the  responsive  and  resounding 
anti-climax  of  Allen. 

The  capture  of  Ticonderoga  was  the  first  offensive  blow  by 
the  Americans  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  the  tidings  of  their 
victory  carried  dismay  to  the  ministry  of  Lord  North.  Among 
the  gallant  band  of  patriots  who  achieved  this  brilliant  and 
substantial  triumph  at  Ticonderoga  was  Matthew  Lyon,  neph 
ew  by  his  first  marriage  of  Ethan  Allen.  In  a  letter  written 
at  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  January  16,  1817,  to  Senator  Armisted 
C.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  whose  tragic  end  in  a  duel  so  aroused 
indignation  in  1819,  Lyon  gave  a  quaint  and  forcible  resume 
of  his  career.  The  following  extract  from  that  letter  will  be 
read  with  interest  by  all  Vermonters,  and  especially  by  the 
people  of  Wallingford,  where  Lyon  resided  at  the  period  of 
which  he  writes:  "In  1774,  when  British  encroachment  on 
our  rights  was  raising  the  spirit  of  resistance,  I  laid  before  the 


114  MATTHEW   LYOtf 

youngerly  men  in  my  neighborhood,  in  the  country  now  called 
Vermont,  a  plan  for  an  armed  association  which  was  adopted. 
We  armed  and  clothed  ourselves  uniformly.  We  hired  an  old 
veteran  to  teach  us  discipline,  and  we  each  of  us  took  the  com 
mand  in  turn,  so  that  every  one  should  know  the  duty  of  every 
station.  With  a  part  of  this  company  of  Minute  Men,  im 
mediately  after  the  Lexington  battle,  I  joined  Ethan  Allen. 
Eighty-five  of  us  took  from  one  hundred  and  forty  British 
veterans  the  fort  Ticonderoga,  which  contained  the  artillery 
and  warlike  stores  which  drove  the  British  from  Boston  and 
aided  in  taking  Burgoyne  and  Cornwallis.  That  fort  contained 
when  we  took  it  more  cannon,  mortar-pieces  and  other  military 
stores  than  could  be  found  in  all  the  revolted  Colonies.  At 
the  rate  captors  have  /been  paid  in  the  late  (1812)  war,  our 
plunder,  which  we  gave  to  the  nation  without  even  pay  for  our 
time,  was  worth  more  than  a  million  of  dollars.  I  persuaded 

many  of  the  Royal  Irish Company  taken  there  to  join 

us,  who  afterwards  distinguished  themselves  in  our  cause.  In 
the  same  month,  April,  1775,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  an 
armed  sloop  in  the  lake,  it  was  necessary  to  mount  two  heavy 
pieces  of  ordnance  at  Crown  Point.  Our  European  artillerists 
said  it  could  not  be  done  without  certain  apparatus  which  could 
not  be  obtained  without  a  ruinous  delay.  With  the  assistance 
of  a  few  backwoodsmen  and  some  timber,  readily  procured,  I 
mounted  them,  and  put  the  match  to  the  first  cannon  ever  fired 
under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Eagle,  whose  renown  has 
spread  far  and  wide." 

Lyon  took  just  pride  in  the  famous  capture  of  Ticonderoga. 
"  Now  is  the  time,"  he  said  afterwards  on  the  floor  of  Con 
gress,  during  a  debate  on  the  repeal  of  the  Embargo,  February 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  (1 1 5 

7,  1809,  "  to  pause  and  count  the  cost.  I  know  a  little  of  what 
war  means.  Although  I  had  not  the  honor  of  bearing  a  con 
spicuous  part  in  that  war  which  gave  this  country  liberty, 
although  I  had  the  mortification  very  unjustly  to  receive  a 
stab  in  my  reputation  in  that  war,  a  stab  which  would  have  put 
almost  any  other  man  down,  I  acted  an  humble  though  perhaps 
a  useful  part  in  that  war  from  the  first  to  the  last  of  it.  I  was 
a  private  soldier  in  one  of  those  companies  called  '  Minute 
Men  '  who  first  took  up  arms  in  defense  of  the  cause  of  Ameri 
can  liberty,  and  with  my  gun  on  my  shoulder  marched  to  take 
Ticonderoga  under  the  command  of  Ethan  Allen."a 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  opportune  for  the  interests 
of  Vermont  in  the  Continental  Congress  than  the  capture  of 
this  great  stronghold  of  the  British.  The  powerful  influence  of 
George  Clinton,  the  patriotic  Governor  of  New  York,  and  the 
occasional  intrigues  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  to 
annex  the  Grants,  were  felt  injuriously  by  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys.  Congress  was  at  times  supine,  and  at  other  times  half 
ready  to  recognize  New  York's  jurisdictional  claims  to  the 
disputed  territory.  But  when  Ethan  Allen  seized  the  Keys  of 
Champlain  and  handed  them  over  as  a  trophy  to  the  patriot 
cause,  pigmy  colonial  struggles  and  marauding  exploits  of  the 
past  were  forgotten,  the  bickerings  of  petty  land-jobbers  were 
j  silenced,  and  with  rigor  relenting  the  Continental  Congress 
"  pardoned  something  to  the  spirit  of  liberty." 

To  such  heroes  Congress  voted  the  same  pay  as  that  received 
by  officers  and  men  on  the  Continental  establishment,  and 
recommended  to  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York  that, 
after  consulting  with  General  Schuyler,  "  they  should  employ 

«  Annals  of  Congress,  Tenth  Congress,  Second  Session,  p.  1416. 


Il6  MATTHEW  LYON 

in  the  army  to  be  raised  for  the  defense  of  America  those  called 
Green  Mountain  Boys  under  such  officers  as  the  said  Green 
Mountain  Boys  should  choose. "a 

Magnanimously  forgetting  the  past,  the  Provincial  Congress 
of  New  York  adopted  a  resolution  which  authorized  the  Green 
Mountain  Boys  to  raise  a  regiment  of  five  hundred  men,  and 
to  select  their  own  officers  up  to  the  grade  of  lieutenant-colonel 
inclusive,  the  field  officers  to  be  appointed  by  New  York.  An 
invidious  recommendation  was  added,  undoubtedly  aimed  at 
Ethan  Allen,  on  whose  head  they  had  once  set  a  price,  that  the 
Green  Mountain  Boys  would  nominate  acceptable  persons  to 
New  York.  Whether  this  ill-tempered  request,  or  an  actual 
preference  of  Vermonters  for  another  leader,  determined  the 
choice,  certain  it  is  that  Ethan  Allen  was  dropped,  and  the 
Dorset  convention  of  July  26,  1775,  by  a  vote  of  forty-five  to 
five,  selected  Seth  Warner  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  new  com 
mand.  Matthew  Lyon  was  chosen  adjutant  to  the  regiment.** 

Daniel  Chipman,  in  his  "  Life  of  Seth  Warner,"  while  suit 
ably  recounting  Allen's  merits,  seems  to  regard  the  claims  of 
Warner  as  superior.  The  former,  he  says,  "  was  sometimes 
rash  and  imprudent,"  the  latter  "was  modest  and  unassum 
ing."0 

The  unfortunate  capture  of  Ethan  Allen  in  his  sortie  on 
Montreal  perhaps  gave  rise  to  the  opinion  that  he  was  rash  and 
imprudent.  But  Major  Brown,  who  conceived  the  idea  of  cap- 


a  "  Life  of  Ethan  Allen,"  by  Jared  Sparks,  p.  289. 

&  Lyon's  Congressional  Narrative,  Annals  of  Congress,  February  I, 
1798.  He  also  said  in  the  letter  to  Senator  Mason,  an  extract  from 
which  is  quoted  on  a  preceding  page:  "The  first  summer  I  was  ap 
pointed  one  of  the  first  Revolutionary  adjutants." 

c  Daniel  Chipman's  "  Memoir  of  Col.  Seth  Warner,"  pp.  54-5. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  1 1/ 

luring  the  town,  and  persuaded  Allen  to  aid  in  the  assault,  is 
responsible  by  inexcusable  absence  from  his  appointed  post  for 
the  fiasco  that  followed.  "  Carleton  afterwards  admitted," 
says  a  more  recent  writer,  but  who  cites  no  authority  for  so 
important  an  admission  by  the  British  commander,  "  that  if 
Brown  had  not  failed  to  join  Allen,  Montreal  would  have  fallen 
into  their  hands."0 

Colonel  Warner's  regiment,  of  which  Lyon  was  adjutant, 
served  with  distinction  under  General  Montgomery  in  Canada 
during  the  brilliant  fall  campaign  of  1775.  Mr.  Chipman  has 
fallen  into  an  error  where  he  says  at  page  36  of  his  "  Life  of 
Warner,"  "  it  is  evident  that  both  Warner  and  the  officers  of  his 
regiment  were  without  commissions,  for  we  find  by  Mont 
gomery's  orderly  book  that,  on  the  i6th  of  September,  he 
issued  an  order  appointing  Seth  Warner  colonel  of  a  regiment 
of  Green  Mountain  Rangers,  requiring  that  he  should  be 
obeyed  as  such.  Probably  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New 
York  withheld  the  commissions  on  the  same  grounds  on  which 
in  the  following  year  they  urged  the  Continental  Congress  to 
recall  the  commissions  which  they  had  given  to  Warner  and 
the  officers  of  his  regiment."  As  Mr.  Chipman  tells  us  at  page 
2  that  he  had  but  "  scanty  materials,"  and  had  to- trust  to  his 
"  own  recollection  "  when  he  wrote,  he  no  doubt  did  injustice 
to  New  York  unintentionally.  Warner  was  not  without  his 
commission  at  the  time  referred  to  by  Chipman.  The  careful 
Dr.  O'Callaghan  in  the  "  Documentary  History  of  New  York," 
compiled  from  original  sources  in  the  State  archives  at  Albany, 
informs  us  at  page  554  of  the  fourth  volume  of  that  valuable 

°"  Ethan  Allen  and  the  Green  Mountain  Heroes,"  by  H.  W. 
De  Puy,  p.  302. 


Il8  MATTHEW   LYON 

work,  in  a  note  to  a  letter  of  Ethan  Allen,  that  "  Seth  Warner 
was  appointed  Lt.  Col.  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  on  the 
ist  Sept.,  1775,  by  the  N.  Y.  Prov.  Congress."  New  York, 
therefore,  did  not  withhold  the  commission  of  Warner.  The 
orderly  book  of  General  Montgomery  may  show  that  Seth 
AVarner  was  appointed  colonel  of  Green  Mountain  Rangers  on 
the  1 6th  of  September  without  impugning  the  verity  of  the 
record  of  his  appointment  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Green 
Mountain  Boys  on  the  ist  of  the  same  month.  It  would  rather 
appear  that  the  gallant  Montgomery  "  seventh  from  Washing 
ton  in  rank,  next  to  him  in  merit,"a  had  witnessed  Warner  in 
action,  and  promoted  him  to  a  full  colonelcy  for  good  conduct, 
as  he  was  not  the  man  to  deny  to  valor  its  reward. 

About  the  end  of  November  the  term  for  which  they  had 
enlisted  having  expired,  and  their  equipment  t  not  being  suffi 
cient  for  the  rigors  of  a  Canadian  winter,  Colonel  Warner  and 
his  men  returned  home,  bearing  back  with  them  the  thanks 
and  commendation  of  General  Montgomery.  Having  con 
quered  two-thirds  of  Canada  and  raised  the  hopes  of  the 
patriots  by  his  genius  in  arms,  the  hapless  Montgomery,  with 
victory  almost  at  hand,  fell  on  those  same  Heights  of  Quebec 
where  Montcalm  and  Wolfe  had  yielded  up  their  spirits  before, 
and  then  and  there  the  prospect  of  wresting  Canada  from  the 
mother  country  was  dimmed  and  extinguished. 

The  American  army  was  reduced  to  the  utmost  straits. 
Smallpox  carried  off  hundreds  of  officers  and  men.  Large 
reinforcements  reached  the  enemy,  and  General  Carleton  had 
hopes  of  capturing  the  remnant  of  the  American  forces.  Gen- 

«  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  VII,  Centenary 
edition. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  119 

eral  Wooster  wrote  to  Colonel  Warner,  January  6,  1776,  an 
earnest  appeal  for  succor  in  his  distress,  and  the  Green  Moun 
tain  Boys,  under  their  gallant  leader,  again  took  up  the  march 
across  the  border  into  Canada.  Their  services  were  invaluable. 
They  formed  part  of  the  rear  guard  during  the  retreat,  minis 
tered  to  the  sick,  and  repulsed  scouting  parties  of  the  enemy, 
until  at  length  the  almost  exhausted  Americans  passed  the 
border  with  the  British  in  hot  pursuit.  Winter  proclaimed  an 
armistice,  and  General  Gates,  who  succeeded  General  Sullivan, 
presently  drew  in  his  troops  about  Ticonderoga,  and  the  dis 
astrous  Canadian  campaign  was  at  an  end. 

Seth  Warner,  now  out  of  commission,  shortly  after  applied 
to  the  commander  of  the  Northern  Department  for  troops  to 
protect  the  frontier  left  defenceless  by  the  retreat  of  the  army. 
General  Gates  recommended  in  reply  that  six  companies  should 
be  raised  by  the  Committee  of  the  Hampshire  Grants,  promis 
ing  to  commission  the  officers  at  Continental  pay  as  soon  as 
they  should  be  nominated.  Matthew  Lyon  was  a  member  of 
this  Committee  which  immediately  selected  the  officers  for  the 
companies.  Lyon  was  nominated  by  the  Committee  and  re 
ceived  his  commission  from  Gates  as  a  second  lieutenant.  He 
was  at  this  time  at  home  in  Wallingford  where  he  forthwith 
began  to  enlist  men,  and  shortly  raised  his  quota.  At  his  own 
expense  he  set  out  with  his  recruits  for  Pittsford,  which  was 
the  rendezvous  for  the  companies  as  fast  as  they  should  be 
raised.  On  his  arrival  there  Lyon  met  his  captain  and  first 
lieutenant,  neither  of  whom  had  raised  any  men.  He  was  as 
tonished  to  find  that  only  two  companies  and  part  of  a  third, 
besides  his  own  men,  had  been  raised  by  the  several  officers 


I2O  MATTHEW   LYON 

nominated  by  the  committee  of  the  Hampshire  Grants.     The 
cause  of  this  unexpected  apathy  soon  became  apparent. 

A  resolution  passed  Congress  July  5,  1776,  with  the  echoes 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  still  lingering  in  the  cham 
ber  from  the  previous  day,  to  raise  a  new  regiment  of  the  Con 
tinental  line  to  serve  during  the  war,  and  to  be  composed  of 
Green  Mountain  Boys  under  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Warner.  This  was  the  first  formal  recognition  of  the  Green 
.  Mountain  Boys  by  the  United  States,  and  created  much  en 
thusiasm  throughout  the  Grants.  Its  effect  was  to  paralyze 
the  work  of  enlistment  in  the  six  home  companies,  and  to 
stimulate  the  business  of  forming  Warner's  Continental  regi 
ment,  which  was  rapidly  recruited  to  the  maximum  number. 
Matthew  Lyon  immediately  applied  to  General  Gates  to  dis 
charge  him  and  his  men  in  order  that  he  might  enroll  himself 
with  them  in  the  regular  service  of  the  United  States  under 
Warner.  To  this  application  Gates  promptly  returned  a  favor 
able  reply,  and  ordered  Lyon  to  prepare  his  payroll  for  settle 
ment  with  his  men  for  the  time  they  had  already  served  before 
enrollment  in  the  new  regiment.  A  gang  of  wheat  speculators 
of  Tory  proclivities,  had  bought  for  a  mere  trifle  the  growing 
crops  from  the  farmers  along  the  Canadian  border,  who,  when 
the  army  fell  back  and  left  them  within  the  enemy's  lines,  had 
fled  southward  with  their  families,  a  body  of  homeless  refugees. 
If  troops  were  ordered  north,  as  the  wheat  gang  expected, 
their  speculation  would  become  profitable,  for  the  crops  would 
be  required  for  subsistence,  and  army  quartermasters  would  be 
ready  to  buy  them.  With  this  view  these  speculators  now 
urged  General  Gates  not  to  disband  the  home  companies,  but 
to  order  them  to  the  north  as  a  protection  to  helpless  families 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  121 

who,  they  falsely  pretended  to  believe,  had  been  left  behind,  and 
to  act  as  videttes  upon  the  enemy's  movements.  They  urged 
this  request  with  so  much  plausibility  that  General  Gates 
yielded  to  their  rascally  petition,  countermanded  his  order  for 
the  disbandment  of  the  militia  companies,  and  sent  them  far 
north,  to  a  place  called  Jericho,  precisely  where  the  speculators 
owned  the  crops.  "  General  Gates,"  said  Lyon  in  the  Mason 
letter,  "  influenced  by  designing  Tories,  ordered  the  party 
seventy  miles  in  advance  of  our  army." 

This  apparently  trivial  transaction  was  big  with  the  fate  of 
Matthew  Lyon.  A  stroke  of  misfortune  now  overtook  him  so 
severe,  so  unprovoked  by  act  or  word  of  his,  and  which  entailed 
on  an  innocent,  upright  man  so  much  obloquy  and  undeserved 
reproach  in  after  years,  culminating  at  last  with  a  battle  royal  on 
the  floor  of  Congress,  that  it  would  be  inexcusable  to  omit  from 
this  memoir  a  recital  of  the  events  which  presently  took  place. 
Fortunately  Matthew  Lyon  himself  has  put  on  record  a  narra 
tive  of  these  events  on  a  solemn  and  formal  public  occasion, 
the  truth  of  which  was  confirmed  by  many  contemporaneous 
witnesses  and  writers  in  Vermont,  while  no  witness  or  writer 
on  the  subject  ever  denied  its  truth  in  a  single  particular.  This 
account  was  related  before  the  Committee  of  Privileges  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  by  Matthew  Lyon,  February  i,  1798. 
That  part  of  the  narrative  which  refers  to  the  Jericho  affair  is 
subjoined:  "  In  1776,  after  the  retreat  from  Canada,  Colonel 
Seth  Warner,  being  out  of  employ,  applied  to  the  commander- 
in-chief  in  the  northern  department  for  some  defense  for  the 
frontier  of  New  Hampshire  Grants,  which  became  exposed  by 
the  retreat  of  the  army.  The  general  recommended  to  the 
Committee  of  the  New  Hampshire  Grants,  of  which  I  was  a 


122  MATTHEW   LYON 

member,  to  nominate  the  commissioned  officers  for  six  com 
panies,  and  he  promised  to  commission  them,  and  that  they 
should  be  entitled  to  Continental  pay.  In  one  of  these  com 
panies  I  received  a  commission  as  a  second  lieutenant.  I  set 
about  enlisting  my  men,  and  immediately  obtained  my  quota, 
and  at  my  own  expense  marched  them  to  the  rendezvous  at 
Pittsford  about  twenty  miles  southeast  from  Ticonderoga, 
which  by  this  time  had  become  headquarters.  At  the  rendez 
vous  I  found  the  captain  and  first  lieutenant  of  my  company 
had  raised  no  men,  and  that  there  were  but  two  companies  and 
a  part  of  another,  besides  mine,  raised,  and  that  Colonel  War 
ner,  who  was  expected  to  have  commanded  our  six  companies, 
had  received  a  commission  and  orders  from  Congress  for  rais 
ing  a  regiment  on  the  Continental  establishment  during  the 
war,  and  that  in  his  endeavors  to  raise  his  regiment  the  raising 
of  our  companies  was  wholly  impeded.  Finding  the  business 
falling  into  supineness,  I  applied  to  the  general  to  discharge  me 
and  my  men,  in  order  that  I  might  join  Warner's  regiment. 
The  general  at  once  agreed  to  discharge  and  pay  me  and  my 
men,  and  ordered  me  to  make  up  my  payroll  for  the  purpose. 
But  at  this  juncture  application  was  made  to  the  general  by 
some  people  who  had  bought  the  crops  of  the  Whigs,  and  who 
had  removed  from  Onion  river;  and  he  was  induced  to  order 
our  party  to  march  to  Jericho,  and  take  post  at  a  certain  house 
on  the  north  side  of  Onion  river,  at  least  sixty  miles  in  advance 
of  the  army  towards  Canada — from  whence  the  army  had  re 
treated,  and  about  the  same  distance  from  any  body  of  inhabi 
tants;  and  the  general,  instead  of  discharging,  ordered  me  to 
join  one  of  the  other  companies. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  123 

"  The  idea  of  the  people,  and  of  the  committee  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Grants  was  that  these  six  companies,  if  they  had 
all  been  raised,  would  have  been  stationed  somewhere  near 
Middlebury,  which  is  opposite  Crown  Point,  and  about  twelve 
miles  east  therefrom,  and  near  forty  miles  southward  of  the 
place  appointed  by  the  general.0 

"  The  commanding  officer  wrote  to  the  general,  representing 
the  situation  of  the  country,  and  the  impossibility  of  our  being 
of  any  service  at  Onion  river,  as  all  the  well  affected  people 
were  moved  away.  This  letter  was  either  neglected  or  an 
swered  with  a  fresh  order  for  marching.  The  order  was 
obeyed ;  but  the  soldiers  considered  themselves  sacrificed  to  the 
interest  of  those  persons  who  bought  the  crops  for  a  trifle, 
and  wanted  to  get  our  party  there  to  eat  them  at  the  public 
expense.  I  opposed  those  murmurs  with  all  the  arguments 
in  my  power. 

"  I  used  frequently  to  urge  with  them  that  the  absolute  gov 
ernment  of  the  army  must  be  with  the  general;  he  could  not 
be  omniscient,  and  we  ought  to  submit  with  cheerfulness  and 
hope  for  the  best.  In  this  situation  our  little  garrison,  which 
contained  about  sixty  men  besides  invalids,  were  alarmed  by 
the  Indians  taking  some  persons  from  a  house  about  a  mile 
distant.  Consternation  prevailed.  I  immediately  called  for 
volunteers,  and  with  about  twenty  men  went  to  the  house 
where  the  prisoners  had  been  taken — from  thence  took  a  cir 
cuit  in  the  woods  round  the  garrison  in  order  to  see  if  there 
were  any  party  or  appearances  of  the  enemy.  Finding  none,  I 


a  "  Their  destination  was  to  be  fixed  by  the  Committee  of  Safety, 
of  which  I  was  a  member."  Lyon's  letter  to  Senator  Mason,  January 
16,  1817. 


124  MATTHEW   LYON 

returned  and  obtained  leave  to  take  about  five  and  twenty  of 
the  best  men,  and  pursue  the  enemy  towards  the  lakes,  where 
we  supposed  they  had  gone.  I  had  proceeded  about  two  miles, 
when  two  runners  from  the  commanding  officer  brought  me 
positive  orders  to  return,  with  intelligence  that  a  subaltern 
officer  had  returned  from  a  scout  to  the  Lake  Champlain,  about 
twelve  miles  distant,  where  he  saw  five  or  six  hundred  Indians. 
"  On  my  return  I  found  the  soldiers  more  than  ever  anxious 
about  their  situation.  They  complained  bitterly  of  the  orders 
which  bound  them  to  the  north  side  of  Onion  river,  more  than 
twenty  poles  wide,  at  that  time  not  fordable,  and  but  a  single 
small  canoe  to  cross  with.  I  endeavored  to  encourage  them 
with  assurances  that  we  could  withstand  any  number  of  In 
dians  in  our  log  house  and  a  hovel  or  two  which  stood  near; 
and,  after  a  battle,  if  we  should  find  the  enemy  too  troublesome, 
we  might  retreat  with  honor.  I  urged  them  to  their  duty  as 
soldiers  and  patriots.  Every  preparation  was  made  to  repel 
the  attack  which  was  expected  from  the  enemy  that  night. 
Being  fatigued  and  off  duty,  I  had  laid  down  to  rest,  with  my 
fuzee  in  my  arms.  About  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  I  heard  a 
violent  bustle,  with  a  cry  of  '  Turn  out!  turn  out! '  I  turned  out 
and  inquired  where  the  enemy  were  discovered,  and  was  an 
swered,  '  Nowhere.'  The  soldiers  were  paraded,  and  I  found 
by  what  was  said  by  the  sergeants  that  they  were  about  to 
march  off  and  cross  the  river.  I  expostulated  with  them  long 
and  earnestly,  pointing  out  the  dishonor  which  such  an  action 
would  reflect  on  their  country.  I  urged  them  to  stay  the 
event  of  a  battle,  and  I  spoke  the  truth  when  I  assured  them 
that  I  preferred  death  in  battle  to  the  dishonor  of  quitting  our 
post. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  125 

"  All  entreaties  were  ineffectual ;  they  declared  they  had  been 
abused — there  was  no  chance  for  their  lives  there,  and  they 
marched  off  for  the  south  side  of  the  river.  A  sergeant  re 
turned  with  some  soldiers,  and  called  upon  the  officers  to  cross 
the  river.  As  they  were  going  to  take  the  canoe  to  the  other 
side,  they  insisted  on  our  going,  and  threatened  violence  if 
we  refused.  The  other  officers,  which  were  two  captains  and 
one  lieutenant,  seemed  willing  to  go,  and  I  did  not  think  it 
my  duty  to  resist  alone. 

"  In  the  morning  the  soldiers  offered  to  return  to  subordina 
tion  if  the  commanding  officer  would  lead  them  to  a  small 
block  fort  at  New  Haven,  about  thirty  miles  to  the  southward. 
The  officers  held  a  consultation;  in  this  I  refused  to  do  any 
thing  but  go  back  to  the  station  we  were  ordered  to  maintain. 
We  were  at  this  place  joined  by  a  lieutenant  and  a  few  men, 
who  had  gone  to  the  mill  near  Crown  Point  to  get  wheat 
ground,  and  I  was  sent  express  to  headquarters  to  carry  letters 
and  inform  the  general  of  what  had  happened ;  but  some  of  the 
wheat  speculators  had  arrived  before  me,  and  so  exasperated 
the  general  that  when  I  arrived  he  was  enraged  to  the  highest 
pitch ;  he  swore  we  should  all  be  hanged,  and  ordered  me  under 
arrest.  Within  a  few  days  the  other  officers  and  some  of  the 
soldiers  were  brought  into  headquarters.  We  had  a  trial  by  a 
court-martial,  appointed  by  the  exasperated  general,  who  now 
swore  we  should  all  be  broke.  I  proved  everything  with 
respect  to  myself  that  is  here  stated  (the  persons  are  yet  alive 
by  whom  I  proved  it,  and  are  ready  to  repeat  it),  notwithstand 
ing  which  I  was  included  in  the  general  sentence  of  cashiering ; 
nor  did  even  the  lieutenant  who  was  absent  at  the  mill  escape 
the  awful  condemnation.  The  soldiers  were  sentenced  to  cor- 


126  MATTHEW  LYON 

poral  punishment,  but  on  General  Carleton's  coming  down  to 
attack  Ticonderoga  they  were  liberated. 

"  The  mortification  of  being  cashiered,  and  that  very  un 
deservedly,  without  any  other  aggravation,  was,  I  believe,  quite 
to  the  extent  of  my  power  to  bear;  had  any  indignant  ceremony 
/been  to  be  performed,  they  would  not  have  had  my  company  at 
it,  as  the  implements  of  death  were  in  my  power. 

"  The  general  sent  for  us  to  his  own  house  and  there,  in  a 
mild  manner,  communicated  to  us  the  sentence — no  one  pres 
ent,  I  believe,  but  his  aid;  and  we  took  our  own  time  and 
manner  of  quitting  Ticonderoga.  I  have  always  understood 
he  reversed  the  sentence. 

"  Perhaps  my  spirit  would  not  have  been  able  to  have  borne 
up  under  this  affliction  had  not  all  my  acquaintances  acquitted 
me  of  every  color  of  misbehavior;  nor  did  the  bitterest  enemy 
ever  seriously,  between  he  and  me,  before  the  present  insult, 
call  my  courage  or  my  conduct  in  that  instance  in  question. 
Twenty-one  years  have  elapsed  since  the  unfortunate  affair, 
during  which  it  has  slept  in  oblivion,  until  party  rage  and  party 
newspapers  tore  open  the  wound  in  my  breast. 

"  To  pursue  the  narrative:  General  St.  Clair,  who  presided 
at  the  court-martial  which  condemned  me,  in  the  summer  suc 
ceeding  that  misfortune,  recommended  me  to  General  Schuy- 
ler,  informing  him  (as  I  supposed)  of  my  ill-usage,  and  of  my 
subsequent  services,  and  obtained  for  me  a  commission  of 
paymaster  to  a  Continental  regiment  commanded  by  Colonel 
Seth  Warner,  which  commission  entitled  me  to  the  rank  of 
captain.  *  *  * 

"  In  this  regiment  I  served  at  the  capture  of  Burgoyne;  and 
the  succeeding  spring,  when  my  family  could  return  to  my 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  I2/ 

plantation  from  which  Burgoyne's  invasion  had  drove  them, 
at  the  solicitation  of  Governor  Chittenden  and  many  other 
friends  I  resigned."0 

Horatio  Gates,  who  thus  cashiered  Matthew  Lyon  for  doing 
his  duty  with  a  constancy  under  difficulties  which  proved  that 
he  possessed  courage  of  a  heroic  quality,  "  was,"  says  Washing 
ton  Irving,  "  an  Englishman  by  birth,  the  son  of  a  captain  in 
the  British  army.  Horace  Walpole,  whose  Christian  name  he 
bore,  speaks  of  him  in  one  of  his  letters  as  his  godson,  though 
some  have  insinuated  that  he  stood  in  filial  relationship  of  a 
less  sanctified  character."5  Bancroft  made  a  careful  study  of 
the  character  of  Gates,  and  devotes  considerable  space  to  his 
intrigue  to  degrade  Washington  from  command  of  the  armies 
of  the  Revolution. 

"  Gates  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  John  Adams,"  says  Ban 
croft/  Again  the  national  historian  informs  us  that  "  Gates 
purposely  neglected  to  make  reports  to  his  superior."11  "Wash 
ington  thought  that  the  requisitions  of  Gates  should  be  made 
directly  to  himself,  or  that  at  least  he  should  receive  a  duplicate 
of  them  but  Gates  insisted  on  dealing  directly  with  Congress, 
as  '  the  common  parent  of  all  the  American  armies/  "6  "  Shal 
low,  vain  and  timorous,"  says  Bancroft  elsewhere,  "  and  of  lit 
tle  administrative  ability,  he  was  restless  for  high  promotion 
without  possessing  any  of  the  qualities  requisite  in  a  leader."' 

«  Annals  of  Congress,  Fifth  Congress,  Vol.  I,  pp.  1025-1028. 
&  Irving's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  Vol.  I,  p.  385^ 
c Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  V,  p.  299,  Cenr- 
tenary  edition. 

<*  Ibid,  Vol.  V,  p.  354- 

elbid,  Vol.  V,  p.  557. 

/  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  VI,  p.  275. 


128  MATTHEW  LYON 

After  the  victory  at  Saratoga,  Gates  came  to  an  open  rup 
ture  with  Washington,  and  the  Conway  cabal,  to  advance  the 
former  over  the  latter,  assumed  a  most  menacing  front.  Hap 
pily  for  the  fate  of  America  neither  John  Adams,  nor  Samuel 
Adams,  nor  Mifflin,  nor  Rush,  nor  Conway,  nor  Gates,  nor 
Charles  Lee,  nor  all  of  them  and  their  congeners  combined, 
were  able  to  disturb  the  serene  Washington,  already  conse 
crated  in  the  hearts  of  Americans.  On  the  I3th  of  June,  1780, 
without  consulting  Washington,  and  in  opposition  to  his  well- 
known  wish  that  General  Greene  should  be  sent  to  the  south, 
"  Congress  unanimously  appointed  Gates  to  the  command  of 
the  Southern  army,  and  constituted  him  independent  of  the 
oommander-in-chief."a  He  hastened  to  South  Carolina  to  ex 
change,  as  General  Charles  Lee  predicted,  his  Northern  laurels 
for  Southern  willows.  At  the  battle  of  Camden,  Gates  was 
utterly  routed  by  Cornwallis,  and  leaving  his  broken  forces  to 
take  care  of  themselves,  he  ran  away  200  miles  from  the  scene 
of  his  disgrace.  He  sped  to  Charlotte,  and  thence  to  Hills- 
borough,  the  laughing  stock  of  both  armies.6 

Such  was  Gates.  If  Matthew  Lyon  had  been  a  revengeful 
man,  here  was  more  than  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  most  morbid 
sense  of  injury.  But  the  author,  in  all  of  Lyon's  correspon 
dence  and  speeches,  has  not  found  one  word  of  harshness  or 
vindictiveness  against  Gates.  That  arrogant  commander,  by  a 
wanton  abuse  of  power,  had  cashiered  Lyon  for  not  stopping 
the  retreat  of  sixty  men,  whom  he  did  not  command,  before  an 
army  of  nearly  ten  thousand.  Gates  himself  had  now  become 
a  fugitive  from  his  own  army,  which  he  had  blindly  led  to 

a  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  VI,  p.  275. 
&  Ibid,  Vol.  VI,  p.  281. 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  129 

defeat,  and  then  left  to  its  fate.  Had  Matthew  Lyon,  instead  of 
Horatio  Gates,  commanded  at  Camden,  deserted  his  force  after 
he  had  brought  disaster  upon  it,  and  fled  a  panic-stricken  man 
in  buckram  two  hundred  miles  from  the  scene  of  conflict,  no  one 
would  have  complained  had  a  court-martial  cashiered  him,  no 
one  could  have  challenged  the  justice  of  the  sentence.  Had 
Gates  presided,  to  push  the  hypothetical  case  one  step 
further,  at  the  trial  of  such  a  recreant,  in  all  probability 
the  doom  of  death  would  have  been  pronounced,  and  pro 
nounced  justly,  against  the  culprit.  The  man  who  cashiered 
Lyon  at  Ticonderoga,  for  striving  to  do  his  duty  in  the  face  of 
insuperable  difficulty,  was  reserved  in  the  eternal  fitness  of 
things  to  become  the  hero  of  the  tragic-farce  at  Camden. 

Lieutenant  Lyon  left  Ticonderoga  with  a  bleeding  heart,  a 
brave  man  struggling  against  crushing  adversities.  He  re 
turned  to  Wallingford  and  those  heroic  men  whose  names  are 
synonims  for  courage,  Governor  Thomas  Chittenden,  Ira  Allen 
and  the  other  leaders  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys,  did  not 
receive  him  as  Gates  had  done.  They  were  on  the  ground, 
knew  all  the  facts  of  the  case,  were  aware  that  a  gang  of  cor 
morant  speculators  had  obtained  the  ear  of  General  Gates, 
that  the  retreat  from  Jericho  was  earnestly  opposed  by  Lyon, 
and  they  now  declared  that  Lyon  had  been  iniquitously  sacri 
ficed  by  Gates  at  the  dictation  of  camp  followers  and  traffickers 
in  the  miseries  of  the  people.  Nor  was  Lyon's  vindication 
confined  to  words.  He  was  elected  a  member  within  a  few 
days  of  the  Dorset  convention  of  July  24,  1776,  from  Walling 
ford,0  and  took  his  place  among  the  leaders  of  Vermont,  as 
the  immediate  answer  of  a  brave  people  to  the  sentence  visited 

«  Vermont  Historical  Society  Collections,  Vol.  I,  pp.  16-23. 


130  MATTHEW   LYON 

upon  him  by  General  Gates.  The  old  Council  of  Safety  pro 
nounced  its  verdict  on  the  conduct  of  General  Gates  by  order 
ing  payment  of  the  balance  of  ration  money  due  to  Captain 
Fassett  and  his  two  lieutenants,  Matthew  Lyon  and  Jonathan 
Wright,  for  their  services  at  Jericho  on  Onion  river.  As  Ver 
mont's  vindication  of  Matthew  Lyon  and  the  others  from  the 
injustice  they  endured  at  the  hands  of  Horatio  Gates,  the  judg 
ment  of  the  Council  of  Safety  is  here  transcribed  from  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  Council: 

"  State  of  Vermont.  In  Council  of  Safety,  iQth  November,  1777. 
"  It  is  the  opinion  and  judgment  of  this  Council,  that  Deacon  Aza- 
riah  Rude  (Rood)  pay  Capt.  John  Fassett  and  his  two  lieutenants, 
Matthew  Lyon  and  Jonathan  Wright,  all  the  ration  money  due  to  them 
while  in  service  at  Onion  River  in  the  year  1776,  amounting  to  twenty 
dollars,  taking  Captain  Fassett's  receipts  for  the  same,  being  money 
which  said  Rude  drew  from  the  Quartermaster-General 

"  By  order  of  Council 

"Joseph  Fay,  Secretary."* 

In  the  following  summer  Burgoyne,  "  with  his  amphibious 
and  semi-barbarous  armament,"6  began  the  famous  invasion  by 
way  of  Lake  Champlain.  The  British  army  in  New  York, 
under  Howe,  was  to  march  northward  and  form  a  union  with 
Burgoyne's  army  at  Albany,  as  it  descended  from  Canada. 
But  this  junction,  which  might  have  proved  irresistible,  was 
not  to  take  place.  With  eight  thousand  men  of  all  arms  ad 
mirably  equipped  and  officered,  Burgoyne  attacked  Ticonde- 
roga.  The  brave  but  unfortunate  St.  Clair,  after  the  enemy 
had  planted  a  battery  on  Fort  or  Mount  Defiance  which  over 
looked  and  commanded  Ticonderoga,  evacuated  the  fortress  in 
the  face  of  the  overwhelming  army  of  invasion.  This  step 

«  Records  of  Governor  and  Council,  Vol.  I,  p.  198. 
6  Irving's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  Vol.  II,  p.  89. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  I31 

created  widespread  popular  dissatisfaction.  The  position  was 
supposed  to  be  a  defensible  if  not  impregnable  one.  Wash 
ington  Irving  imputes  the  blame  largely  to  General  St.  Clair. 
Bancroft  takes  a  hasty  but  juster  view.  The  military  parts  of 
Irving's  "  Life  of  Washington  "  are  drawn  largely  in  mezzo 
tint.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  with  the  many  lives  of  Washington 
issued  during  the  last  hundred  years,  that  his  inner  military 
history  is  less  understood  by  the  general  public  of  this  day 
than  it  was  by  those  who  lived  nearer  to  his  own  time,  and 
derived  their  knowledge  from  the  official  reports  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  and  his  officers,  and  the  surrounding  circum 
stances  of  the  times.  The  American  Livy  has  not  yet  ap 
peared. 

To  understand  St.  Clair's  position  at  Ticonderoga  the 
intrigues  of  faction  which  then  afflicted  the  country,  as  they 
have  so  often  since,  must  be  distinctly  kept  in  view.  A  bitter 
feud  between  New  York  and  New  England,  existing  prior  to 
the  Revolution  and  actively  at  work  during  its  progress,  had 
much  to  do  with  this  misfortune.  A  like  spirit  manifested 
itself  in  the  camp  of  Allen  and  Arnold  when  Ticonderoga  was 
captured  from  Delaplace.  It  was  at  work  when  Massachu 
setts  at  first  declined,  New  York  held  back,  and  Connecticut 
finally  sent  troops  under  Hinman  to  occupy  the  station.  Then 
when  Montgomery's  brilliant  stroke  of  war  in  the  north  was 
followed  by  his  death,  the  Continental  Congress  weakly  inter 
meddled  with  Washington  and  his  army,  sent  Gates  to  super 
sede  Schuyler  in  the  Northern  department,  and  with  like  stu 
pidity,  as  danger  approached,  allowed  him  to  seek  shelter  under 
Washington  in  the  Middle  States,  and  finally  when  it  was  too 
late  they  restored  Schuyler  to  his  old  command.  These 


132  MATTHEW    LYON 

changes  were  the  result  of  sectional  jealousies,  and  showed  im 
becility  of  management.  Arnold's  madness  for  renown  led  to 
the  destruction  of  his  squadron  on  Lake  Champlain,  and  Schuy- 
ler's  limited  means  and  want  of  influence  with  the  Eastern  troops, 
all  left  Ticonderoga  a  doomed  post  long  before  it  was  evacuated 
on  the  6th  of  July,  1777.  Schuyler  was  an  able  and  efficient 
officer;  St.  Clair  a  brave,  skilled  and  self-sacrificing  one.  The 
former  did  much  to  weaken  Burgoyne,as  became  evident  finally 
at  Saratoga,  though  the  partisans  of  Gates  in  Congress,  led  by 
Samuel  Adams,  again  sent  that  weak  officer  to  the  North  to 
reap  the  fruits  of  other  men's  labors;  St.  Clair,  holding  a  post 
deemed  impregnable,  was  confronted  by  the  sharp  alternative 
of  sacrificing  himself  or  his  army,  and  heroically  cast  his  own 
prestige  to  the  winds  and  saved  an  army  which  was  indispens 
able  to  the  final  success  of  the  campaign,  and  perhaps  to  the 
salvation  of  the  cause  itself.  Burgoyne  correctly  judged  that 
the  possession  of  Ticonderoga  was  a  barren  victory  without 
the  capture  or  destruction  of  the  American  forces.  The  British 
plan  of  campaign,  as  already  stated,  was  the  junction  at  Al 
bany  of  the  army  of  General  Howe  advancing  from  New  York, 
and  the  army  of  General  Burgoyne  descending  from  Canada. 
The  latter,  therefore,  ordered  an  immediate  pursuit  by  land  and 
water  of  General  St.  Clair,  as  his  retreat  was  accidentally  re 
vealed  while  the  troops  were  marching  out  during  the  night 
by  a  fire  on  Mount  Independence  in  the  quarters  of  General 
Fermoy.  The  English  historian,  Gordon,  charges  that  Fermoy, 
contrary  to  positive  orders,  set  fire  to  his  house,"  but  the 
charge  was  denied  by  that  officer,  and  no  evidence  was  adduced 
to  sustain  it.  In  the  confusion  of  a  hasty  flight  it  is  probable 

«  Gordon's  "America,"  Vol.  II,  p.  482. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  133 

that  the  unfortunate  fire,  as  more  careful  writers  hold,  was 
accidental.  St.  Clair's  strength  was  greatly  exaggerated  by 
newspapers,  and  the  military  authorities  purposely  encouraged 
the  delusion  in  order  to  maintain  the  morale  of  the  army,  and 
to  raise  the  spirits  of  the  people  sore  pressed  by  the  war.  The 
folly  of  such  a  policy  became  apparent  when  the  fortress  was 
evacuated,  and  the  Americans  fled  before  the  superior  forces 
of  Burgoyne.  Consternation  seized  the  public  mind.  Yet 
St.  Clair's  fault  was  not  in  retreating,  but  in  staying  so  long. 
Mount  Defiance  or  Sugar  Hill  was  unfortified  and  commanded 
Ticonderoga.  When  the  British  took  the  former,  the  latter 
was  at  their  mercy.  Sullivan,  Warner  and  Wooster  had  been 
compelled  to  fall  back  from  Canada,  and  St.  Clair  was  not 
strong  enough  to  confront  the  powerful  army  of  Burgoyne. 
The  retreat  was  scarcely  ordered  before  a  hot  pursuit  began. 
The  main  column  of  the  Americans  reached  Hubbardton  the 
same  day,  twenty-two  miles  from  Mount  Independence,  after  a 
most  fatiguing  march.  St.  Clair  by  great  exertions  restored 
order  among  the  confused  regiments.  He  halted  for  two 
hours  at  Hubbardton.  Most  of  the  stragglers,  who  had  been 
unable  to  keep  up  with  their  regiments,  here  rejoined  the 
ranks,  and  nearly  the  whole  rear  guard  arrived  before  St.  Clair 
renewed  the  retreat.  He  placed  Warner  in  command  of  the 
rear  with  positive  instructions,  as  soon  as  the  last  of  the  troops 
came  up,  to  follow  the  army  to  Castleton,  six  miles  off,  and  to 
halt  that  night  about  a  mile  and  a  half  behind  the  general's  own 
force,  until  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  which  hour  he  was 
to  resume  the  march  and  join  the  main  body.  Had  this  order 
been  obeyed,  all  disaster,  beyond  the  destruction  of  the  stores 
and  baggage  of  the  troops  at  Skeensborough,  would  have  been 


134  MATTHEW   LYON 

avoided,  and  the  movement  have  proved  a  brilliant  retreat. 
But  want  of  discipline  was  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties 
against  which  the  American  generals  had  to  contend  through 
out  the  whole  Revolutionary  war.  Their  men  would  not  obey 
them.  Washington  was  constantly  embarrassed  by  laxity  of 
discipline,  and  nowhere  did  he  display  more  fortitude  than  in 
overcoming  this  defect  among  the  brave  but  headstrong,  self- 
opinionated  farmers  of  his  army.  John  Trumbull  was  in  the 
camp  at  Crown  Point  after  the  retreat  from  Canada,  and  found, 
"  not  an  army,  but  a  mob  *  .*  *  void  of  every  idea  of  dis 
cipline  or  subordination ;  *  *  *  the  officers  as  well  as  men 
of  one  Colony  insulting  and  quarrelling  with  those  of  an 
other."0 

Warner  disobeyed  St.  Clair's  order,  and  as  his  men,  some 
twelve  hundred  in  number,  were  greatly  fatigued,  he  impru 
dently  remained  that  night  at  Hubbardton.  Next  morning 
about  four  o'clock  St.  Clair  paraded  his  army  at  Castleton  and 
waited  in  vain  for  Warner  during  two  anxious  hours.  Fearing 
that  the  enemy  would  be  upon  them,  he  sent  back  an  express  to 
Warner  and  Francis  at  six  o'clock  with  orders  to  join  him 
instantly.  But  the  enemy  was  already  at  hand,  and  the  dis 
astrous  battle  of  Hubbardton  took  place.  Warner  fought  with 
obstinate  valor,  and  killed  and  wounded  many  of  the  Hessians 
and  English  under  Riedesel  and  Frazer,  but  was  himself  over 
borne  by  numbers  and  defeated  with  great  loss  in  killed, 
wounded  and  prisoners.6  The  brave  Colonel  Francis  was 

<* "  Life  of  Col.  John  Trumbull." 

6  Thompson,  in  his  "History  of  Vermont,"  says  "  the  British  loss  in 
killed  and  wounded  was  183;  the  American  loss  in  killed,  wounded  and 
prisoners,  324,"  p.  1021 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  135 

killed.  The  remnant  of  the  Americans  fled  to  Manchester, 
and  about  one  hundred  of  them  joined  St.  €lair.  That  gallant 
officer  had  the  mortification  of  being  disobeyed  by  two  cow 
ardly  militia  regiments  whom  he  ordered  back  to  reinforce 
Warner  while  the  battle  was  raging.  The  rest  of  his  troops 
were  too  far  on  to  return.  The  recreants  were  broken  and  dis 
banded,  and  on  their  return  to  Massachusetts  Samuel  Adams 
took  up  their  defense,  and  strove  to  justify  men  who  had  al 
lowed  their  countrymen  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  and  with  craven 
insubordination  refused  to  enter  the  fight  when  their  assistance 
probably  would  have  saved  the  day. 

•  It  was  at  this  perilous  juncture  that  Matthew  Lyon,  who  had 
led  a  detachment  of  Green  Mountain  Boys  into  the  fight  at 
Hubbardton,  and  aided  Warner  in  his  heroic  but  unavailing 
struggle,  now  rendered  the  most  important  military  service  of 
his  life,  and  enrolled  his  name  among  the  heroes  of  the  Revolu 
tion.  In  the  valuable  letter  to  Mason,  Lyon  said :  "  I  was  in 
my  station  of  adjutant  in  the  retreat  from  Ticonderoga  in 
1777."  The  fight  of  Hubbardton  took  place  on  the  7th  of  July. 
That  night  a  heavy  rain  fell,  and  the  fleeing  army  of  St.  Clair, 
with  the  enemy  already  in  possession  of  Skeensborough,  and 
Riedesel's  forces  in  their  rear,  found  themselves  without 
proper  guides  struggling  on  through  the  Vermont  wilderness 
in  mud  and  rain,  uncertain  of  the  route  to  pursue,  and  liable  to 
march  into  the  lines  of  Burgoyne  in  their  efforts  to  extricate 
themselves  from  the  perils  that  environed  them.  It  was  a 
moment  of  deep  anxiety  to  General  St.  Clair,  and  his  keen,  mili 
tary  eye  was  watchful  to  prevent  a  possible  ambuscade.  Every 
camp  follower  was  kept  under  strict  observation,  and  sus 
picious  characters  were  rigidly  scrutinized  lest  lurking  spies 


136  MATTHEW   LYON 

and  Tories  might  endanger  his  safe  retreat.  During  the  night 
a  young  man  claiming  to  be  a  Green  Mountain  Boy,  and  de 
claring  himself  a  woodman  and  pioneer  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  route  to  Bennington,  and  the  only  road  to  the  Hudson 
river  which  the  army  could  safely  take,  presented  himself  at 
the  outposts  and  aroused  the  suspicions  of  the  guard  by  the 
boldness  of  his  pretensions,  and  the  earnestness  of  his  offer  to 
act  as  guide  to  the  imperiled  troops.  He  was  placed  under 
arrest  and  conducted  to  headquarters.  General  St.  Clair 
recognized  the  young  stranger  at  once  as  Lieutenant  Matthew 
Lyon,  a  man  devoted  to  the  cause,  whom  General  Gates  had 
so  cruelly  and  unjustly  cashiered  during  the  preceding  summer, 
and  whom  Governor  Chittenden  and  the  Green  Mountain 
leaders  had  welcomed  back  to  their  councils  as  a  true  and  gal 
lant  patriot.  Matthew  Lyon  was  universally  recognized  as 
every  inch  a  forester,  as  much  at  home  in  the  wilds  of  the  Green 
Mountains  as  Daniel  Boone  in  the  forests  of  Kentucky.  There 
was  no  other  man  in  New  England  whom  General  St.  Clair 
would  have  welcomed  so  heartily  to  his  camp  as  this  bold 
woodman  on  that  dark  and  perilous  night.  He  was  well  known 
to  the  officers  of  the  army,  and  many  a  gallant  man  breathed 
a  sigh  of  relief  when  the  General  instantly  accepted  the  new 
comer  as  a  guide  to  the  army,  and  ordered  the  head  of  the 
column  to  follow  his  lead  and  press  forward  confidently  where- 
ever  Lieutenant  Lyon  directed.  The  new  guide  immediately 
ordered  a  detour  through  the  woods,  and  saved  the  army  from 
impending  capture. 

The  English  historian  Gordon  refers  to  this  detour  in  the 
following  sentence:  "While  St.  Clair  was  at  Castleton  an 
officer  of  one  of  the  gallies  arrived  with  information  that  the 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  137 

British  were  pursuing  in  force  towards  Skeensborough,  and 
would  reach  it  before  he  could  get  there.  This  determined 
him  to  change  his  route  and  to  strike  into  the  woods  on  his 
left,  lest  he  should  be  intercepted  at  Fort  Anne."a  The  officer 
of  the  galley  knew  as  little  about  the  country  as  St.  Clair,  and 
the  change  of  route  was  made  under  the  sole  direction  and 
leadership  of  Matthew  Lyon.  The  following  testimony,  from 
a  distinguished  officer  of  St.  Clair's  army,  makes  this  absolutely 
plain.  This  was  the  celebrated  General  Wilkinson,  after 
wards  at  the  head  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  who 
bears  grateful  testimony  to  the  signal  and  opportune 
service  rendered  by  Matthew  Lyon  on  this  occasion. 
"  General  Burgoyne's  anticipation/'6  says  Wilkinson,  "  of  Gen 
eral  St.  Clair  at  Skeensborough,  information  of  which  he  re 
ceived  at  Castleton,  obliged  him  to  change  his  line  of  march, 
and  by  a  circuitous  route  through  Pawlet,  Manchester  and 
Bennington,  he  struck  the  Hudson  river  at  Batten-Kill,  and 
joined  General  Schuyler  at  Fort  Edward  on  the  I2th  of  July. 
The  night  of  the  7th  being  extremely  dark  and  rainy,  one  of  the 
guards  took  up  and  reported  to  headquarters  a  young  man  sus 
pected  of  being  a  spy.  I  visited  the  guard,  and  found  the 
prisoner  to  be  a  Lieutenant  Lyon  of  the  militia,  since  Mr. 
Matthew  Lyon,  of  Congress,  who  had  joined  us  to  offer  his 
services  as  a  guide,  of  whom  we  stood  in  great  need,  being 
strangers  to  the  country,  which  was  in  general  a  wilderness,  a 
town  having  sometimes  barely  a  cabin  or  two  to  distinguish  it; 
even  Bennington,  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  Hamp- 


o  Gordon's  "  America,"  Vol.  II,  p.  484,  London  edition,  1788. 
6 Wilkinson  uses  the  word  "anticipation"  as   a   euphuism  for  the 
capture  and  destruction  of  the  post. 


138  MATTHEW   LYON 

shire  grantees,  could  not  number  more  than  a  dozen  log  cabins, 
which  were  however  surrounded  by  a  considerable  tract  of  im 
proved  ground.  Lieutenant  Lyon,  an  active,  ardent  young 
man,  was  extremely  zealous,  and  accompanied  us  as  long  as  his 
services  were  useful ;  he  had  been  stationed  the  preceding  cam 
paign,  with  a  party  of  militia  at  Otter  Creek,  in  a  subordinate 
capacity;  the  post  was  evacuated  without  orders,  and  Lieuten 
ant  Lyon  has  been  censured  for  that  transaction,  although  he 
opposed  the  measure,  and  on  an  investigation  was  acquitted 
of  blame."a  Lyon  said  in  the  letter  to  Mason:  "  On  account 
of  the  services  I  rendered  that  army  in  that  difficult  retreat,  the 
generals  who  had  seen  me  abused  the  year  before  procured 
for  me  an  appointment  of  paymaster  in  the  regiment  on  the 
Continental  establishment,  with  the  rank  of  captain  in  the 
army." 

The  incapacity  and  harshness  of  Gates  received  a  just  rebuke 
when  Schuyler,  his  successor  in  command,  promptly  restored 
Lyon  to  the  army  and  promoted  Tiim  to  a  higher  rank  than  he 
had  held  at  the  time  of  the  causeless  cashiering.  Of  this  Lyon 
writes  as  follows  in  his  letter  to  the  editor  of  "  The  Spirit  of 
'76  "  :  "  The  oldest  and  most  experienced  officers  of  the  court- 
martial  disapproved  the  sentence  and  obtained  for  me  almost 
immediate  promotion.  The  sentence  was  never  communi 
cated  to  me  in  public.  The  commanding  general  sent  for  me 
and  in  his  room  communicated  the  sentence,  remitted  the  dis 
qualification,  and  advised  me  to  accept  a  first  lieutenancy  in  a 
Continental  regiment  then  offered  me." 


a" Memoirs  of  My  Own  Times,"  by  General  James  Wilkinson,  vol.  I, 
p.  189. 


THE   HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  139 

In  speaking  later  on  of  his  dismissal  from  the  army  by  Gates, 
Lyon  said:  "  I  always  understood  he  reversed  the  sentence." 

This  was  probably  true.  General  Schuyler's  reinstatement 
of  Lyon  might  have  required  otherwise  another  court-martial, 
had  the  sentence  of  the  former  one  been  in  force.  St.  Clair  no 
doubt  represented  to  Schuyler  that  Lyon's  acquaintance  with 
the  country,  and  his  bravery  and  devotion  in  the  hour  of  great 
est  peril  had  proved  of  incalculable  assistance  to  him  in  effect 
ing  the  safe  retreat  to  Fort  Edward.  '  Such  services  were  re 
quited  by  the  commanding  general  in  a  suitable  manner;  he 
wiped  out  the  Gates  stigma  and  assigned  Lyon  to  immediate 
duty  as  paymaster  to  Col.  Seth  Warner's  regiment. 

This  was  a  post  of  trust  and  some  distinction  which  had  been 
previously  filled  by  a  Connecticut  officer,  son  of  a  member  of 
the  Continental  Congress.  For  some  reason  the  officer,  who 
was  popular,  had  been  cashiered,  and  there  was  much  feeling 
in  the  regiment  over  the  affair.  The  young  man's  father 
brought  it  to  the  attention  of  Congress  with  a  view  to  rein 
statement.  The  feeling  in  the  regiment  and  the  father's  in 
fluence  operated  in  favor  of  the  former  paymaster,  and  ren 
dered  the  position  by  no  means  a  pleasant  one  to  his  successor. 
Captain  Lyon  encountered  this  dissatisfaction,  but  as  it  was 
not  directed  against  himself  personally,  his  good  sense  and  tact, 
and  a  certain  riant  frankness  of  spirit  peculiarly  his  own,  soon 
won  over  officers  and  soldiers  alike,  and  made  the  new  pay 
master  as  great  a  favorite  as  the  former  one.  The  movement 
in  behalf  of  the  displaced  officer  had  not  been  given  over,  nor 
had  his  father's  strenuous  but  unavailing  efforts  to  secure  his 
reinstatement  yet  been  abandoned  when  Captain  Lyon  came 
into  the  regiment.  It  was  probably  on  this  account,  and  to 


I4O  MATTHEW  LYON 

soften  disappointment  among  the  soldiers  that  the  General  an 
nounced  the  change  as  a  temporary  appointment. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  General  Schuyler's  letter  to 
Colonel  Warner,  announcing  the  appointment  of  Lyon : 

"  Fort  Edward,  July  15,  1777. 

"  Dear  Colonel. — I  am  favored  with  yours  of  yesterday.  I  enclose 
you  an  order  for  what  clothing  can  be  procured  at  Albany,  which  must 
be  sent  for.  I  have  made  a  temporary  appointment  of  M.  Lyon  to 
be  your  Pay  Master,  and  have  given  him  four  thousand  dollars,  which 
is  all  I  can  at  present  spare.  Colonel  Simmonds,  with  four  or  five 
hundred  of  his  regiment  will  join  yours;  but  let  the  others  come  this 
way.  *  *  *  Advance  as  near  to  the  enemy  as  you  possibly  can. 
Secure  all  tories,  and  send  them  to  the  interior  part  of  the  country. 
Be  vigilant;  a  surprise  is  inexcusable.  Thank  the  troops  in  my  name 
for  behaving  so  well  as  you  say  they  did  at  Hubbardton.  Assure  them 
that  I  will  get  whatever  I  can  to  make  them  comfortable.  All  of  your 
regiment  that  were  here  afe  already  on  the  way  to  join  you.  If  we  act 
vigorously,  we  save  the  country.  *  *  *  Cheer  up  the  spirits  of 
the  people  in  your  quarter. 

"P.  SCHUYLER."* 

On  his  appointment  as  paymaster,  Lyon  immediately  re 
paired  to  Manchester,  where  the  regiment  was  stationed. 
He  held  the  position  until  the  close  of  the  campaign  and  took 
part  in  the  glorious  battle  of  Saratoga.  His  resignation  after 
the  capture  of  Burgoyne's  army  caused  much  regret  in  his 
regimental  family.  He  was  urged  by  all  to  remain,  but  when 
he  explained  that  important  duties  summoned  him  home,  and 
farewell  was  spoken,  he  bore  away  with  him  the  affectionate 
sentiments  and  hearty  good  wishes  of  his  companions  in  arms:5 

It  is  not  known  whether  he  was  a  member  of  the  Windsor 
Convention  of  July  2,  1777,  as  "  the  journal  of  that  convention 

«"  Collections  of  the  Vermont  Historical  Society,"  vol.  I,  p.  186. 
5  Lyon's  Congressional  Narrative. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  14! 

was  never  printed,     *     *     *     and  not  even  a  full  list  of  the 
members  is  extant."a 

The  condition  of  the  country  was  never  so  unsettled 
as  in  the  year  1777.  A  wilderness  only  partly  re 
claimed  furnished  at  the  best  -but  scant  supplies  to  the 
people,  and  the  British  government  had  now  placed  powerful 
armies  and  fleets  in  cooperation  in  one  supreme  effort  to  sub 
jugate  New  England  and  New  York.  Burgoyne's  savage  al 
lies  and  more  savage  proclamations  were  spreading  terror 
among  defenseless  women  and  children,  and  as  his  army  ad 
vanced  not  a  few  among  the  settlers  on  the  Grants  lost  heart 
and  deserted  to  the  enemy.  Overwhelming  disasters  occurred 
on  all  sides  and  paralyzed  the  business  of  the  Windsor  Con 
vention.  The  Indians,  whose  favorite  weapons  were  the  torch 
and  tomahawk,  were  now  let  loose  in  the  district  where  most 
of  the  delegates  resided,  and  when  news  came  of  St.  Glair's 
retreat,  dreadful  apprehensions  for  their  wives  and  little  ones 
spurred  every  one  to  instant  departure.  At  this  moment,  as  in 
Virginia  at  a  later  day  when  Patrick  Henry  was  addressing  the 
convention  upon  the  ratification  or  rejection  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  a  violent  storm  burst  forth  and  dark 
ness  like  an  incubus  sat  down  upon  the  earth.  Lightning 
blinded  the  sight  and  thunder  deafened  the  ears  of  the  dele 
gates,  and  the  house  in  which  they  sat  shook  with  the  fury  of 
the  tempest.  Departure  from  the  building  was  impossible, 
and  the  members  thus  forced  to  tarry,  resumed  business, 
bravely  put  the  Constitution  on  its  final  reading  and  adopted 
it.  Although  not  submitted  to  the  people  for  ratification,  this 

a  Address  of  Rev.  Pliney  H.  White  before  the  Vermont  Historical 
Society,  at  Windsor,  July  2,  1863. 


142  MATTHEW  LYON 

Constitution  was  acquiesced  in  and  as  strictly  obeyed  as 
though  that  formality  or  essentiality  had  been  observed. 
While  there  were  no  officers  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
State,  it  became  necessary  to  entrust  the  destinies  of  Vermont 
to  a  Council  of  its  best  men  with  powers  absolute  and  unlimited. 
This  celebrated  body,  since  known  as  the  Old  Council  of 
Safety,  was  chosen  by  the  Windsor  Convention  as  its  last  act 
before  adjournment.  Of  this  Council  there  is  authority  for 
saying  that  Matthew  Lyon  was  a  member.  That  careful  Ver 
mont  antiquarian,  Rev.  Pliny  H.  White,  in  his  Windsor  ad 
dress  of  July  2,  1863,  spoke  as  follows:  "  No  list  of  the  mem 
bers  of  this  Council  is  extant,  but  it  is  known  that  Thomas 
Chittenden,  Ira  Allen,  Moses  Robinson,  Jonas  Fay,  Joseph 
Fay,  Paul  Spooner,  Nathan  Clark  and  Jacob  Bayley  were  of 
the  number,  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Samuel 
Robinson,  Matthew  Lyon,  Thos.  Rowley,  Gideon  Olin  and 
Benjamin  Carpenter  were  also  members.  Its  powers  were  un 
defined,  and  practically  were  unlimited,  but  they  were  exercised 
with  great  discretion,  and  with  a  single  eye  to  the  welfare  of 
Vermont."*  The  Windsor  Convention  having  thus  adopted  a 
State  Constitution  and  selected  a  Council  of  Safety,  adjourned 
on  the  8th  of  July,  news  of  the  evacuation  of  Ticonderoga,  the 
flight  of  the  Americans,  the  pursuit  by  the  British  and  of  a 
fierce  battle  at  Hubbardton,  having  brought  the  proceedings 
to  a  sudden  close,  and  filled  the  members,  as  above  stated,  with 
the  utmost  anxiety  and  alarm.  The  Council  of  Safety  repaired 
to  Manchester  where  it  was  in  session  until  the  24th  of  July, b 


a"  Collections  of  the  Vermont  Historical  Society,"  vol.  I,  p.  63. 
b  Letter  of  Colonel  Warner  to   Gen   Stark.     Collections  Vermont 
Historical  Society,  I,  190. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  143 

when  it  adjourned  for  a  few  days  to  Sunderland,  and  on  the 
28th  of  July  to  Bennington,  at  which  place  it  was  in  session 
for  the  remainder  of  the  campaign.41  Ira  Allen  in  his  "  His 
tory  of  Vermont  "  is  not  exact  in  dates.  He  informs  us  of  the 
sitting  of  the  Council  of  Safety  at  the  three  above-mentioned 
places,  and  from  his  text  the  inference  is  drawn  that  the  memor 
able  step  was  taken  for  the  appointment  of  Commissioners  of 
Sequestration,  not  at  Manchester,  but  at  Sunderland.  As  this 
far-reaching  measure  originated  with  Allen,  his  account  of  it 
is  important.  "  The  Council  of  Safety,"  he  says,  "  had  no 
money  or  revenue  at  command,  and  all  expresses  were  sup 
ported  at  their  private  expense ;  yet,  in  this  situation  it  became 
necessary  to  raise  men  for  the  defense  of  the  frontiers,  with 
bounties  and  wages;  ways  and  means  were  to  be  found  out, 
and  the  day  was  spent  in  debating  on  the  subject.  Nathan 
Clark,  not  convinced  of  the  practicability  of  raising  a  regiment, 
moved  in  council  that  Mr.  Ira  Allen,  the  youngest  member  of 
Council,  and  who  insisted  on  raising  a  regiment,  while  a  ma 
jority  of  the  Council  were  for  only  two  companies,  of  sixty 
men  each,  might  be  requested  to  discover  ways  and  means  to 
raise  and  support  a  regiment,  and  to  make  his  report  at  sun- 
rising  on  the  morrow.  The  Council  acquiesced,  and  Mr.  Allen 
took  the  matter  into*  consideration.  Next  morning,  at  sun- 
rising,  the  Council  met,  and  he  reported  the  ways  and  means  to 
raise  and  support  a  regiment,  viz.:  That  the  Council  should 
appoint  Commissioners  of  Sequestration,  with  authority  to 
seize  the  goods  and  chattels  of  all  persons  who  had  or  should 
join  the  common  enemy;  and  that  all  property  so  seized  should 

alra  Allen's  History  of  Vermont,  pp.  93'94-     Blade's  State  Papers, 
pp.  197-223. 


144  MATTHEW   LYON 

be  sold  at  public  vendue,  and  the  proceeds  paid  to  the  treasurer 
of  the  Council  of  Safety,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  bounties 
and  wages  of  a  regiment  forthwith  to  be  raised  for  the  defense 
of  the  State.  The  Council  adopted  the  measure  and  appointed 
officers  for  the  regiment.  Samuel  Herrick,  Esq.,  was  ap 
pointed  the  colonel,  and  the  men  enlisted,  and  the  bounties 
paid  in  fifteen  days,  out  of  the  confiscated  property  of  the 
enemies  of  the  new  State.  This  was  the  first  instance  in  Amer 
ica  of  seizing  and  selling  the  property  of  the  enemies  of  Amer 
ican  independence."0 

A  graphic  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Old  Council 
of  Safety  is  contained  in  the  address  of  Hon.  D.  P.  Thompson 
delivered  in  1850  before  the  Vermont  Historical  Society,  and 
published  by  order  of  the  Legislature,  the  members  of  both 
Houses  having  been  present  at  its  delivery.  Mr.  Thompson's 
warmth  of  coloring  and  historical  fidelity  have  been  adversely 
criticised  by  Hon.  E.  P.  Walton,  editor  of  that  valuable  work, 
"  The  Governor  and  Council,"  but  Hon.  David  Read,  a  writer 
of  much  accuracy  as  to  facts,  uses  Thompson's  account  with 
out  question  in  his  sketch  of  Governor  Chittenden.  Delivered 
before  a  body  devoted  to  historical  inquiries,  and  published  by 
the  Legislature,  the  Thompson  production  is  recommended  to 
favor  by  this  high  endorsement.  An  address,  moreover,  which 
elicited  the  following  resolution  is  surely  entitled  to  respectful 
consideration:  "  Montpelier,  Vt.,  October  29,  1850.  Resolved, 
by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives:  That  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Senate  and  the  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  be  instructed  to  solicit  from  the  Hon.  Daniel  P.  Thomp 
son  a  copy  of  the  interesting  and  valuable  address  pronounced 

« Ira  Allen's  History  of  Vermont,  pp.  96-07. 


THE   HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  145 

by  him  before  the  Vermont  Historical  Society,  in  presence  of 
the  two  Houses,  on  the  evening  of  the  24th  instant,  and  that 
the  Secretary  and  Clerk  procure  two  thousand  copies  thereof 
to  be  printed  and  distributed  under  the  direction  of  his  Excel 
lency  the  Governor."  In  communicating  this  resolution  to 
the  orator,  the  Secretary  and  Clerk  added :  "  We  take  occasion 
to  express  the  hope  that  you  will  comply  with  the  unanimous 
desire  of  the  two  Houses,  in  which  the  entire  audience,  on  the 
occasion  alluded  to,  participated." 

Mr.  Thompson  was  careful  to  cite  the  authority  from  which 
he  derived  the  material  facts  of  his  narrative,  namely,  Ira 
Allen,  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  and  "  from  the  lips 
of  old  men  now  passed  away,  and  especially  of  one  whom  this 
year  has  numbered  with  the  dead,  Daniel  Chipman,  and  who, 
then  an  observant  boy,  was  permitted  to  be  an  eye  and  ear 
witness  of  all  that  occurred  in  the  debate,  which  we  will  try  to 
bring  up  as  a  living  and  truthful  picture  directly  to  the  senses." 
The  orator  introduces  the  audience  to  the  Old  Council  of 
Safety  at  its  most  interesting  and  important  session.  As  Mat 
thew  Lyon  is  declared  to  have  been  one  of  the  leading  actors 
in  the  animated  scene  depicted  by  Mr.  Thompson,  the  follow 
ing  passages  from  his  address  are  appropriate  in  this  place: 

"  In  obedience  to  the  order  of  the  Convention  they  (the 
Council  of  Safety)  had  promptly  assembled  at  Manchester  and 
commenced  the  worse  than  Egyptian  task  devolving  on 
them — that  of  making  adequate  provisions  for  the  public  de 
fense,  while  the  means  wese  almost  wholly  wanting.  For  with 
scarcely  the  visible  means  in  the  whole  settlement,  in  its  then 
exhausted  and  unsettled  condition,  of  raising  and  supporting 
a  single  company  of  soldiers,  they  were  expected  to  raise  an 


146  MATTHEW   LYON 

army;  without  the  shadow  of  a  public  treasury,  and  without 
any  credit  as  a  State,  and  without  the  power  of  taxing  the 
people,  which,  by  the  Constitution  just  adopted,  could  only 
be  done  by  a  legislature  not  yet  called,  they  were  required  to 
do  that  for  which  half  a  million  was  needed.  Such  were  the 
difficulties  by  which  they  were  met  at  the  outset — difficulties 
which  to  men  of  ordinary  stamina  and  mental  resources  would 
have  been  insurmountable.  But  the  members  of  the  Old 
Council  of  Safety  were  not  men  of  ordinary  stamina,  either 
moral  or  mental,  and  the  results  of  their  action  amid  all  these 
difficulties  and  discouragements  were  soon  to  evince  it  to 
the  world.  The  particular  time,  however,  we  have  chosen  for 
lifting  the  curtain  from  their  secret  proceedings  was  at  the 
darkest  and  most  disheartening  hour  they  were  doomed  to 
experience,  and  before  their  united  mind  had  been  brought 
to  bear  on  any  measure  affording  the  least  promise  of  auspi 
cious  results.  *  *  * 

"  The  long  summer  day  was  drawing  to  a  close  *  *  * 
when  the  doorkeeper,  with  unwonted  haste  and  an  agitated 
manner,  entered  the  room  and  announced  to  the  astonished 
members  the  alarming  tidings  that  one  of  their  own  number, 
and  till  that  day  an  active  participator  in  their  discussions, 
had  proved  a  Judas,  and  was  now,  with  a  band  of  his  recreant 
neighbors,  on  his  way  to  the  British  Camp.  This  news  fell 
like  a  thunder-clap  on  the  Council,  producing  at  first  a  sensa 
tion  not  often  witnessed  in  so  grave  an  assemblage.  But  no 
formal  comments  were  offered,  and  after  the  commotion  had 
subsided,  all  sank  into  a  thoughtful  silence,  which  v/e  will 
improve  by  personal  introductions  of  all  the  leading  members 


FIRST  GOVERNOR  OF  VERMONT. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  147 

of  this  body,  whom  we  are  now  to  suppose  sitting  before  us 
digesting  the  tidings  just  announced. 

"  Separated  from  the  rest  by  a  sort  of  enclosure  composed 
of  tables  strung  across  one  end  of  the  apartment,  which  was 
the  large  upper  room  of  the  old  tavern  in  Manchester,  and 
which  had  been  hastily  fitted  up  for  the  occasion,  sat  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Council — the  venerable  Thomas  Chittenden,  the 
wise,  the  prudent  and  the  good,  who  was  to  Vermont  what 
Washington  was  to  the  whole  country,  and  who,  though  pos 
sessing  no  dazzling  greatness,  had  yet  that  rare  combination 
of  moral  and  intellectual  qualities  which  was  far  better — 'good 
sense,  great  discretion,  honesty  of  purpose,  and  an  unvarying 
equanimity  of  temper,  united  with  a  modest  and  pleasing 
address.  *  *  *  On  the  left  of  the  President,  on  one  of 
the  plain  benches  that  ran  along  the  walls  in  front,  immersed 
in  thought,  sat  side  by  side,  like  brothers  as  they  were,  the  two 
Fays — those  intelligent  and  persevering  friends  of  freedom  and 
State  independence.  Further  along  sat  the  two  Robinsons, 
alike  patriotic  and  active  or  able,  according  to  the  different 
spheres  in  which  they  were  about  to  be  distinguished — one 
in  the  tented  field,  and  the  other  on  the  Bench  and  in  the 
Councils  of  the  Nation. 

"  Next  to  them  was  seen  the  short,  burly  form  of  the  un 
compromising  Matthew  Lyon,  the  Irish  refugee,  who  was  will 
ing  to  be  sold,  as  he  was,  to  pay  his  passage,  for  a  pair  of 
two-year-old  bulls,  by  which  he  was  wont  to  swear  on  all  extra 
occasions — thus  sold  for  the  sake  of  getting  out  of  the  King- 
tainted  atmosphere  of  the  Old  World,  into  one  where  his 
broad  chest  could  expand  freely,  and  his  bold,  free  spirit  soar 
untrammeled  by  the  clogs  of  legitimacy.  In  his  eagle  eye,  and 


148  MATTHEW   LYON 

every  lineament  of  his  clear,  ardent  and  fearless  countenance, 
might  be  read  the  promise  of  what  he  was  to  become — the 
stern  Democrat  and  unflinching  champion  of  the  whole  right 
and  the  largest  liberty." 

Brief  sketches  are  given  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
Council.  The  thoughtful  Benjamin  Carpenter,  the  mild  Na 
than  Clark,  future  Speaker  of  the  Legislature,  stern  Gideon 
Olin,  afterwards  a  Congressman,  Thomas  Rowley,  the  poet 
of  the  Green  Mountains,  and  Paul  Spooner,  the  busy  man  of 
affairs,  are  all  crayoned  out  in  Mr.  Thompson's  clever  sketch. 
Ira  Allen  is  described  more  fully:  "  So  much  the  junior  of  his 
colleagues  was  he,  that  a  spectator  might  well  wonder  why 
he  was  selected  as  one  of  such  a  sage  body.  But  those  who 
procured  his  appointment  knew  full  well  why  they  had  done 
so ;  and  his  history  thenceforward  was  destined  to  prove  a  con 
tinued  justification  of  their  opinion.  Both  in  form  and  feature, 
he  was  one  of  the  handsomest  men  of  his  day;  while  a  mind 
at  once  versatile,  clear  and  penetrating,  with  perceptions  as 
quick  as  light,  was  stamped  on  his  Grecian  brow,  found  a  live 
lier  expression  in  his  flashing  black  eyes  and  other  lineaments 
of  his  intellectual  countenance.  Such,  as  he  appeared  for  the 
first  time  on  the  stage  of  public  action,  was  the  afterwards 
noted  Ira  Allen  whose  true  history,  when  written,  will  show 
him  to  have  been  either  secretly  or  openly  the  originator  or 
successful  prosecutor  of  more  important  political  measures 
affecting  the  interests  and  independence  of  the  State,  and  the 
issues  of  the  war  in  the  Northern  Department,  than  any  other 
individual  in  Vermont;  making  him,  with  the  many  peculiar 
traits  he  possessed,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  the 
times  in  which  he  so  conspicuously  figured.  '  I  have  finished/ 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  149 

said  Spooner,  breaking  the  gloomy  silence  which  had  so  long 
pervaded  the  assembly,  '  I  have  finished  the  despatch,  Mr. 
President,  requiring  the  attendance  of  General  Bailey,  the  ab 
sent  member  from  Newbury,  and  I  have  ventured  to  add  the 
news  of  the  defection  of  that  miserable  Squire  Spencer/  '  Tis 
all  well/  responded  the  President;  'but  I  had  hoped  to  have 
forwarded  by  the  same  messenger,  a  despatch  requesting  the 
aid  of  New  Hampshire.  But  how  can  we  expect  they  will  do 
anything  till  we  do  something  for  ourselves — till  they  know 
whether  they  will  find  among  us  more  friends  to  feed  and 
assist  than  enemies  to  impede  them?  And  I  submit  to  you, 
gentlemen,  whether  it  is  not  now  high  time  to  act  to  some 
purpose?  If  we  can't  vote  taxes,  we  can  contribute  towards 
raising  a  military  force,  if  you  will  agree  to  raise  one.  Instead 
of  being  disheartened  by  the  conduct  of  the  traitor  Spencer, 
who  has,  perhaps,  providentially  left  us  before  we  had  settled 
on  any  plan  of  operations  which  he  could  report  to  the  enemy, 
let  us  show  him  and  the  world  that  the  rest  of  us  can  be  men ! 
I  have  ten  head  of  cattle  which,  by  way  of  example,  I  will  give 
for  the  emergency.  But  am  I  more  patriotic  than  the  rest  of 
you  here,  and  hundreds  of  others  in  the  settlement?  My  wife 
has  a  valuable  gold  necklace;  hint  to  her  to-day  that  it  is 
needed,  and  my  word  for  it,  to-morrow  will  find  it  in  the  treas 
ury  of  freedom.  But  is  my  wife  more  spirited  than  yours  and 
others?  Gentlemen,  I  wait  your  propositions/ 

"  During  this  effective  appeal  drooping  heads  began  to  be 
raised — perplexed  countenances  began  to  brighten,  and  by  the 
time  he  had  closed  several  speakers  were  on  their  feet  eager 
to  respond. 


150  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  '  Mr.  Carpenter  has  the  floor,  gentlemen,'  said  the  Presi 
dent,  evidently  wishing  that  discreet  and  firm  man  should  lead 
off  as  a  sort  of  guide  to  the  warm  emotions  he  saw  rising. 

"  '  I  rose,'  said  Carpenter,  '  to  give  my  hearty  response  to  the 
sentiments  of  the  Chair.  It  is  time,  high  time  to  act.  I  have 
no  definite  proposition  now  to  offer;  but  within  one  hour  I 
will  have  one,  if  others  are  not  before  me  in  the  matter.  For 
it  is  a  crime  to  dally  any  longer,  and  from  this  moment  action 
shall  be  my  motto.' 

"  'Aye,  action!   action!'   responded  several. 

"  'Action  let  it  be,  then,'  said  the  impulsive  Rowley,  the  next 
to  speak;  '  and  I  will  make  a  proposition  that  will  give  gentle 
men  all  the  action  they  will  want,  besides  setting  an  example 
which  will  show  works  as  well  as  faith.  I  propose,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  that  each  one  of  us  here,  before  any  more  of  us  run 
away  to  the  enemy,  seize  a  standard,  repair  singly  to  the 
different  hamlets  among  our  mountains,  cause  the  summoning 
drum  to  be  beat  for  volunteers,  whom  we  will  ourselves  lead 
to  do  battle  with  this  Jupiter  Olympus  of  a  British  General, 
who  has  so  nearly  annihilated  us  by  force  of  Proclamation/ 

"  'Tom  Rowley  all  over!  but  a  gallant  push  nevertheless/ 
exclaimed  Samuel  Robinson  in  an  undertone,  '  and  yet,  Mr. 
President/  he  continued,  rising, '  if  our  spirited  colleague's  pro 
posal  should  be  carried  into  effect,  we  should  still  want  a  regu 
larly  enlisted  force  to  serve  as  a  nucleus  to  volunteers,  espe 
cially  under  such  officers  as  most  of  us  would  make.'  'I  move/ 
exclaimed  Samuel  Robinson,  '  we  vote  to  raise  a  company  of 
an  hundred  men,  which  will  be  as  many  as  all  the  contributions 
we  can  obtain  among  our  poor  and  distressed  people  will 
equip  and  support  very  long  in  the  field.' 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  I$l 

"  '  And  I/  said  Clark,  '  believing  we  many  venture  to  go  a 
little  higher  than  that,  propose  to  raise  two  companies  of  sixty 
each/ 

"  *  No,  no/  cried  several  voices.  '  One  company — means 
can  be  found  for  no  more/ 

"  '  Yes,  yes,  the  larger  number — I  go  for  two  companies/ 
cried  others. 

"  '  And  I  go  for  neither,  Mr.  President/  said  Ira  Allen,  dash 
ing  down  his  pen  upon  the  table,  by  the  side  of  which  he  had 
been  sitting  in  deep  cogitation.  '  I  have  heard  all  the  proposi 
tions  yet  advanced — see  the  difficulties  of  all,  and  yet  I  see  a 
way  by  which  we  can  do  something  more  worthy  the  character 
of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys,  and  that  too  without  infringing 
the  Constitution  or  distressing  the  people.  I  therefore  move, 
Sir,  that  this  Council  resolve  to  raise  a  whole  regiment  of  men, 
appoint  their  officers,  and  take  such  prompt  measures  for  their 
enlistment  that  within  one  week  every  glen  in  our  mountains 
shall  resound  with  the  din  of  military  preparations/ 

"  '  Chimerical ! '  said  one  who,  in  common  with  the  rest  of 
the  Council,  seemed  to  hear  with  much  surprise  a  proposition 
of  such  magnitude  so  confidently  put  forth,  when  the  general 
doubt  appeared  to  be  whether  even  the  comparatively  trifling 
one  of  Clark  should  be  adopted. 

"  '  Impossible — utterly  impossible  to  raise  pay  for  half  of 
them,'  exclaimed  others. 

"  '  Don't  let  us  say  that  till  compelled  to/  said  Carpenter  in 
an  encouraging  tone.  '  Though  I  don't  now  see  where  the 
means  are  to  come  from,  yet  new  light  may  break  in  on  us  by 
another  day,  so  that  we  can  see  our  way  clear  to  sustain  this 
proposition.  If  there  should  be,  we  should  feel  like  men  again/ 


IS2  MATTHEW    LYON 

"  '  Amen  to  all  that/  responded  Clark,  '  and  as  the  hour  of 
adjournment  has  arrived,  I  move  that  our  young  colleague 
who  seems  so  confident  in  the  matter  of  means,  be  a  committee 
of  one  to  devise  those  ways  and  means  to  pay  the  bounties  and 
wages  of  the  regiment  he  proposes,  and  that  he  make  his  report 
thereof  by  sunrise  to-morrow  morning/ 

"  *  I  second  that  motion,  so  plase  ye,  Mr.  President/  cried 
Lyon  in  his  usual  full  determined  tone  and  Irish  accent,  '  I  go 
for  Mr.  Allen's  proposition  entirely,  manes  or  no  manes.  But 
the  manes  must  and  shall  be  found.  We  will  put  the  brave 
gentleman's  brains  under  the  screw  to-night/  he  added  jo 
cosely,  '  and  if  he  appears  empty  handed  in  the  morning,  he 
ought  to  be  expelled  from  the  Council.  Aye,  and  I'll  move  it 
too,  by  the  two  bulls  that  redamed  me/ 

"  '  I  accept  the  terms ! '  said  Allen,  '  give  me  a  room  by  my 
self,  pen,  ink,  paper  and  candles,  and  I  will  abide  the  con 
dition/ 

" '  For  your  light,  Mr.  Allen,  as  your  task  is  to  find  money 
where  there  is  none  to  any  common  view,  I  would  advise  you 
to  borrow  the  wonderful  lamp  of  Aladdin/  gaily  added  Rowley, 
as  the  Council  broke  up  and  separated  for  the  night. 

"  At  sunrise  the  next  morning  all  the  Council  were  in  their 
seats  to  receive  the  promised  report.  *  *  *  Allen,  with 
his  papers  in  hand,  came  in  and,  after  announcing  his  readiness 
to  report,  calmly  proceeded  to  unfold  his  plan,  which  was  noth 
ing  more  nor  less  than  the  bold  and  undreamed  of  step  of  con 
fiscating,  seizing  and,  on  the  shortest  legal  notice,  selling  at 
the  post  the  estate  of  every  Tory  in  Vermont,  for  the  public 
service ! 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  153 

"  The  speaker  having  read  his  report,  consisting  of  a  decree 
of  confiscation,  drawn  up  ready  for  adoption  by  the  Council, 
and  a  list  of  candidates  or  nominations  of  officers  for  a  regi 
ment  of  Rangers,  he  quickly  resumed  his  seat  and  patiently 
awaited  the  action  of  the  Council.  But  they  were  taken  by 
such  complete  surprise  by  a  proposition  at  that  time  so  new 
in  the  Colonies,  so  bold  and  so  startling  in  its  character,  that 
for  many  minutes  not  a  word  or  whisper  was  heard  through 
the  hushed  assembly  whose  bowed  heads  and  working  counte 
nances  showed  how  intensely  their  minds  were  engaged  in 
trying  to  grapple  with  the  subject  matter  on  which  their  action 
was  so  unexpectedly  required. 

"  Soon,  however,  low  murmurs  of  doubt  or  disapproval 
began  to  be  heard,  and  the  expressions — Unprecedented  step! 
Doubtful  policy!  Injury  to  the  cause!  became  distinguishable 
among  the  more  timid  in  different  parts  of  the  room, — when 
the  prompt  and  fearless  Matthew  Lyon,  whose  peculiar  traits  of 
intellect  had  made  him  the  first  to  meet  and  master  the  proposi 
tion  which  jumped  so.  well  with  his  feelings,  and  whose  con 
sequent  resolve  to  support  it  was  only  strengthened  by  the 
tokens  of  rising  opposition  he  perceived  around  him,  now 
sprang  to  his  feet,  and  bringing  his  broad  palms  together  with 
a  loud  slap,  exultingly  exclaimed :  '  The  child  is  born,  Mr. 
President!  My  head,'  he  continued,  '  has  been  in  a  continual 
»'  fog  ever  since  we  met,  till  the  present  moment.  But  now, 
thank  God,  I  can  see  my  way  out  of  it;  I  can  now  see  at  a 
glance  how  all  we  want  can  be  readily,  aye,  and  righteously, 
accomplished!  I  can  already  see  a  regiment  of  our  brave 
mountaineers  in  arms  before  me  as  the  certain  fruits  of  this 
bold,  bright  thought  of  our  young  friend  here/ 


154  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  '  Unprecedented  step,  is  it?  It  may  be  so  with  us  timid 
Republicans;  but  is  it  so  with  our  enemies,  who  are  this  mo 
ment  threatening  to  crush  us  because  we  object  to  receive  their 
law  and  precedent?  How,  in  Heaven's  name,  were  they  to 
obtain  the  lands  of  half  Vermont,  which  they  offered  the  lion- 
hearted  Ethan  Allen  if  he  would  join  them,  but  by  confiscating 
our  estates?  What  became  of  the  estates  of  those  in  their 
country  who,  like  ourselves,  rebelled  against  their  govern 
ment?  Why,  sir,  they  were  confiscated!  Can  they  complain, 
then,  if  we  adopt  a  measure,  which,  in  case  we  are  vanquished, 
they  will  visit  upon  our  estates,  to  say  nothing  of  our  necks? 
And  can  these  recreant  rascals  themselves,  who  have  left  their 
property  among  us,  and  gone  off  to  help  fasten  the  very  law  and 
precedent  on  us/ complain  of  our  doing  what  they  will  be  the 
first  to  recommend  to  be  done  to  us,  if  their  side  prevails? 
Where,  then,  is  the  doubtful  policy  of  our  anticipating  them  in 
the  measure,  any  more  than  seizing  one  of  their  loaded  guns 
in  battle  and  turning  it  against  them? 

"  '  Injury  to  the  cause  will  it  be?  Will  it  injure  our  cause 
here,  where  men  are  daily  deserting  to  the  British  in  the  belief 
that  we  shall  not  dare  touch  their  property,  to  strike  a  blow 
that  will  deter  all  the  wavering,  and  most  others  of  any  prop 
erty,  from  leaving  us  hereafter?  Will  it  injure  our  cause  here, 
to  have  a  regiment  of  regular  troops  who  will  draw  into  the 
field  four  times  their  numbers  of  volunteers?  If  that  be  an 
injury,  Mr.  President,  I  only  wish  we  had  more  of  them!  With 
half  a  dozen  such  injuries  we  would  rout  Burgoyne's  whole 
army  in  a  fortnight.  I  go,  then,  for  the  proposition  to  the 
death,  Mr.  President. '^Y^-by-the-two  bulls  that  redamed  me 
I  will-  go  it  I ' 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  155 

"  The  ice  was  broken.  This  bold  dash  of  rough,  argumenta 
tive  eloquence,  so  adroitly  addressed  to  men  of  such  mould, 
had  reached  cords  that  rose  responsive  to  the  touch  and  gave  a 
direction  to  the  naturally  favoring  current  of  their  feelings, 
which  was  not  to  be  diverted.  The  more  ready  and  fearless, 
one  after  another,  now  stepped  forward,  removed  obstructions, 
and  gave  additional  force  to  the  gathering  impetus.  The 
President,  on  whom  all  eyes  were  turned,  was  seen  nodding 
his  approbation  in  spite  of  all  his  prudence.  The  timid  rapidly 
gained  strength,  the  doubters  at  length  yielded,  and  within  two 
hours  this  all  important  measure,  which  in  the  eventful  period 
of  forty  days  named  at  the  outset,  became  the  pivot  on  which 
the  destinies  of  Vermont  were  turned,  was  unanimously 
adopted."0 

Colonel  Herrick's  regiment  was  immediately  raised  and 
equipped,  the  sinews  of  war  in  this  crisis  being  obtained  out  of 
the  proceeds  of  sales  of  personal  property  of  tories  and  traitors. 
The  soldiers  thus  placed  in  the  field  took  part  in  the  fever 
memorable  battle  of  Bennington,  turning  point  in  the  tide  of 
war  in  the  North,  as  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain  proved  in 
the  South,  the  former  leading  to  the  overthrow  of  Burgoyne 
at  Saratoga  and  to  the  alliance  between  France  and  the  United 
States,  and  the  latter  to  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  York- 
town  and  the  recognition  of  American  independence  .by  George 
the  Third.  Captain  Lyon  as  paymaster  to  Warner's  regiment 
fought  at  Bennington,  where  his  regiment  covered  itself  with 
glory,  and  he  also  took  part  in  the  battles  around  Saratoga, 
repairing,  as  he  himself  afterwards  said  in  Congress,  to  the 

« Address   before  the   Vermont   Historical   Society,   by   Daniel   P. 
Thompson.     Burlington:  1850. 


156  MATTHEW   LYON 

trenches  every  morning,  musket  in  hand,  in  that  grand  strug 
gle  where  the  lion  flag  of  England  went  down  in  fatal  defeat 
before  the  Stars  and  Stripes  of  the  nascent  Republic.  In  his 
Frankfort  letter  to  Senator  Mason,  which  the  author  has  found 
so  useful  in  explaining  many  things  that  were  obscure,  Lyon 
said  that  while  he  was  paymaster  to  Warner's  regiment,  "  be 
sides  attending  to  the  duties  of  my  station,  I  with  my  gun  and 
bayonet  was  in  many  rencounters  and  assisted  at  the  taking  of 
Burgoyne,  and  had  the  honor  and  pleasure  of  seeing  his  army 
pile  their  arms/'  He  continues:  "In  1778,  the  regiment 
having  lost  near  two-thirds  of  its  number  in  the  many  battles 
and  affairs  of  1777,  was  ordered  to  the  southward,  where  it  was 
expected  it  would  be  incorporated  with  other  regiments  and 
the  supernumerary  officers  discharged.  At  the  request  of  my 
Vermont  friends  I  resigned  my  station  in  the  army,  and  the 
next  week  was  chosen  and  appointed  a  captain  in  the  militia. 
I  was  immediately  appointed  paymaster-general  of  the  troops 
and  the  militia  of  the  State,  Secretary  to  the  Governor  and 
Council,  and  assistant  to  the  Treasurer." 

Lyon  had  now  become  a  leader  in  Vermont,  his  untiring 
activity,  excellent  business  qualities,  and  ardor  in  the  cause  of 
independence  all  having  conspired  to  bring  him  forward.  Gov 
ernor  Chittenden  admired  him  greatly,  and  felt  the  want  of  such 
a  man  in  the  emergencies  which  crowded  thickly  upon  him. 
Ethan  Allen  was  in  captivity,  Remember  Baker  dead,  Warner 
and  Cochran  were  absent  in  the  Continental  Army,  and  now 
Ira  Allen  and  Matthew  Lyon  became  the  chief  counsellors  and 
supporters  of  the  Governor  in  the  arduous  task  of  defending 
Vermont  from  the  attacks  of  its  numerous  enemies.  Arling 
ton  was  the  Tory  headquarters  in  the  State.  Jehiel  Hawley, 


THE    HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  157 

the  leading  man  there,  openly  prayed  for  the  King;  Abel  Bene 
dict  deserted  to  the  British  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Ben- 
nington;  at  least  five  or  six  other  Arlington  men  were  in  the 
army  of  Burgoyne  surrendered  at  Saratoga.  The  stay-at-home 
men  were  in  secret  correspondence  with  the  enemy.*  Either 
the  Tory  stronghold  must  be  reduced,  or  the  patriots  in  Ver 
mont  were  in  danger  of  being  driven  out  of  the  country.  "  At 
this  juncture,"  says  a  writer  in  the  "Vermont  Historical  Maga 
zine,"  "  Thomas  Chittenden,  Matthew  Lyon  and  John  Fassett, 
Jr.,  moved  into  the  town  and  took  possession  of  confiscated 
property.  Captain  Fassett  took  Bisco's  house;  Thomas  Chit 
tenden,  Captain  Hawley's;  Colonel  Lyon,  the  one  opposite, 
now  west  of  the  railroad  depot.  Between  Chittenden's  and 
Lyon's  a  vault  was  dug  and  walled  up  with  plank  and  timber, 
to  be  used  as  a  jail.  Ethan  Allen  was  the  neighbor  of  Fassett, 
and  Ira  Allen  was  at  Sunderland,  three  miles  distant.  Every 
thing  being  ready  the  Council  erected  its  judgment  seat,  and 
woe  to  the  Tory  who  was  summoned  to  its  presence.  *  *  * 
It  were  to  little  purpose,"  continues  this  writer,  who  appears 
to  have  a  soft  place  in  his  heart  for  Tories,  "  to  enter  into  a 
detail  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Governor  and  Council  while 
at  Arlington.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  the  Commissioners  of 
Sequestration  were  not  idle.  There  was  little,  if  any,  resis 
tance.  Their  foes  were  completely  disheartened  by  the  turn 
which  events  had  taken."6 

One  of  the  most  painstaking  investigators  of  the  early  his 
torical  landmarks  of  Vermont  was  the  late  E.  P.  Walton, 
editor  of  "  Governor  and  Council/'  and  also  editor  of  the 

<*  Vermont  Historical  Magazine,  vol.  I,  p.  130. 
6  Vermont  Historical  Magazine,  article  Arlington,  by  Rev.  F.  A. 
Wadleigh,  vol.  I,  p,  130. 


158  MATTHEW  LYON 

"  Vermont  Watchman."  He  had  great  industry  and  mental 
clearness,  and  only  reached  his  conclusions  after  carefully  sift 
ing  all  the  evidence.  No  list  of  the  members  of  the  Old  Coun 
cil  of  Safety  is  extant,  and  many  names  have  been  suggested 
as  claimants  to  the  honor  of  membership.  Mr.  Walton  ex 
amined  the  claims  of  all  with  admirable  patience  and  fairness, 
and  his  judgment  is  entitled  to  the  respectful  attention  of  his 
torical  scholars.  The  Council  consisted  of  twelve  members, 
eleven  of  which,  Mr.  Walton  concluded,  had  been  ascertained 
beyond  reasonable  doubt.  He  then  addressed  himself  to  the 
discovery  of  the  twelfth  member,  and  the  result  of  his  investi 
gation  is  summed  up  as  follows: 

"The  last  name  on  the 'Rev.  Mr.  White's  list,  and  most 
probably  the  right  one  to  be  selected,  is  that  of  Matthew  Lyon, 
then  of  Arlington."*  A  number  of  "Additions  and  Correc 
tions  "  appears  at  the  end  of  the  first  volume  of  "  Governor 
and  Council,"  one  of  which  is  in  the  shape  of  an  opinion  com 
municated  to  the  editor  by  Mr.  Henry  S.  Dana,  of  Woodstock, 
Vt.  "  This  gentleman,"  says  Mr.  Walton,  "  is  of  opinion  that 
Matthew  Lyon  was  not  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  for 
the  reasons  that,  in  1798,  in  his  defense  before  the  Committee 
of  Privileges  of  Congress  on  the  Griswold  affair,  and  in  his 
speech  on  the  subsequent  resolution  of  expulsion,  he  named 
sundry  of  his  services  and  offices  in  Vermont,  and  did  not 
name  membership  in  the  Committee  of  Safety;6  and  also  that, 

«  Records  of  the  Council  of  Safety  and  Governor  and  Council  of  the 
State  of  Vermont,  vol.  I,  p.  71.  Montpelier:  1873. 

&  "  Committee  "  probably  a  misprint  for  "  Council,"  as  Lyon  did  de 
clare  in  the  speech  referred  to  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  Committee 
of  Safety  of  the  Hampshire  Grants,  and,  besides,  the  Council  of  Safety 
was  the  body  evidently  meant  by  Mr.  Dana. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  159 

for  a  period  after  his  retreat  from  Jericho  in  1776,  he  was  '  in 
disgrace.'  Both  of  these  points  are  alluded  to  in  the  text;  and 
the  first  one  (suggested  on  page  73)  is  strong  enough  to  make 
one  doubt,  at  least;  but  after  all,  the  editor  has  not  been  able 
to  find  a  person  with  so  good  a  claim  to  the  honor  as  Lyon 
had.  Mr.  Dana  suggested  Hon.  Benjamin  Emmons  in  lieu  of 
Lyon,  remarking  that  some  of  Mr.  E.'s  descendants  ranked  him 
as  one  of  the  Council  of  Safety.  In  a  subsequent  letter,  how 
ever,  Mr.  D.  wrote  thus :  '  I  think  Lyon  is  excluded  by  his 
own  witness,  but  I  rather  think  you  will  never  be  able  to  prove 
that  Emmons  had  a  much  better  right  to  the  place — nothing 
beyond  hearsay.'  "a 

The  present  writer  has  probably  had  the  best  opportunity 
to  examine  the  writings  and  speeches  of  Matthew  Lyon,  and 
will  devote  the  rest  of  this  chapter  to  a  resume  of  the  public 
stations  known  to  have  been  held  by  him,  and  of  those  prob 
ably  held  by  him,  but  of  which  the  evidence  is  not  certain, 
during  the  period  from  his  arrival  in  the  Hampshire  Grants 
in  1774  to  his  advent  in  Arlington  as  Secretary  of  the  Gov 
ernor  and  Council,  April  9,  1778. 

He  was  probably  a  member  of  each  of  the  three  conventions 
held  respectively,  at  Manchester  January  31,  1775,  in  which 
Wallingford  was  represented;6  at  Dorset  July  26,  1775;°  and 
at  the  same  place  January  16,  1776.^  The  lists  of  delegates 
are  not  preserved.  Lyon  was  active  in  Wallingford  affairs 
during  this  period,  having  submitted  to  the  young  Whigs  in 

« Records  of  the  Council  of  Safety  and  Governor,  etc.,  of  Vermont, 
pp.  526-7. 

&  Vermont  Historical  Society,  I,  p.  8. 
c  Ibid,  p.  9. 
d  Ibid,  p.  II. 


160  MATTHEW    LYON 

his  neighborhood  in  1774  a  scheme  for  a  military  organization, 
which  was  adopted." 

In  1776,  before  the  Dorset  Convention  of  July  24th  of  that 
year  had  been  held,  General  Gates  recommended  the  nomina 
tion  of  military  officers  to  the  Committee  of  the  Hampshire 
Grants,  "  of  which,"  Lyon  declared  in  his  Congressional  Nar 
rative,  "  I  was  a  member."  He  was  probably  appointed  by 
the  Manchester  Convention,  or  by  one  of  the  Dorset  conven 
tions  just  named.  Should  the  full  lists  of  members  ever  be 
found,  the  name  of  Lyon  probably  will  be  discovered  among 
them. 

He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Dorset  Convention  of  July  24, 
1776,  from  North  Wallingford,  together  with  Abraham  Jack 
son.  The  well  authenticated  James  H.  Phelps's  copy  of  the 
proceedings  and  list  of  members  contains  Lyon's  name, b  which 
is  also  subscribed  to  the  declaration  of  principles  put  forth  by 
the  Convention.0  Some  Vermont  writers  say  he  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Windsor  Convention  of  July  2,  1777,  as  well  as  of 
the  celebrated  Council  of  Safety  which  was  chosen  by  that 
Convention. d  Mr.  Dana,  already  referred  to,  expressed  the 
opinion  that  he  was  not  a  member  of  this  Council,  because  he 
did  not  mention  it  in  his  Congressional  Narrative.  There  is 
apparent  argumentative  force  in  this  opinion.  Lyon  was  fond 
of  referring  to  the  honorable  positions  he  occupied  in  Vermont, 
but  the  author  has  found  no  distinct  claim  by  him  in  his  letters 
or  speeches,  many  of  which  he  has  examined,  though  his  letter 

o  Lyon's  letter  to  Mason,  January  16,  1817. 
6  Vermont  Historical  Society,  I,  p.  16. 
c  Ibid,  p.  23. 

d  Rev.  Pliny  White,  E.  G.  Walton,  D.  P.  Thompson  and  others  held 
this  opinion. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  l6l 

to  Senator  Mason  might  be  construed  to  inchide  such  a  claim, 
of  having  been  a  member  of  the  Old  Council  of  Safety  of 
1777.  The  failure  of  Colonel  Lyon  to  mention  that  office 
in  1798,  when  suddenly  called  upon  to  defend  himself  from 
attack,  is  by  no  means  conclusive  either  that  he  had  or  had 
not  been  a  member  of  this  Council.  There  were  several  sta 
tions  of  honor  which  he  omitted  to  mention  on  that  occasion, 
but  which  there  is  no  doubt  he  had  filled.  Mr.  Dana  may  have 
thought  it  probable  that  so  great  a  distinction  as  the  office 
conferred  was  not  likely  to  be  forgotten  by  Colonel  Lyon, 
whose  memory  was  generally  tenacious  of  the  important  trans 
actions  in  which  he  had  taken  part.  But  he  was  one  of  the 
eighty-five  Americans  who  struck  the  first  glorious  and  ag 
gressive  blow  of  the  war,  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga,  the  fame 
of  which  immeasurably  surpasses  that  of  any  other  event,  the 
battle  of  Bennington  alone  excepted,  which  occurred  in  Ver 
mont  during  the  whole  Revolution.  He  was  also  founder  of 
the  flourishing  town  of  Fair  Haven,  where  he  established  ex 
tensive  mills,  factories  and  iron  works,  and  long  was  known 
as  the  father  of  the  town,  a  benefactor  of  the  poor  and  one  of 
the  most  popular  and  respected  citizens  of  Vermont.  Yet 
none  of  these  matters  was  mentioned  by  Colonel  Lyon  in  his 
"  Congressional  Narrative."  The  force  of  Mr.  Dana's  opinion 
is  of  course  only  negative  and  argumentative.  As  such  it  must 
receive  every  consideration  it  deserves  in  this  biography,  the 
author  of  which  has  no  other  purpose  than  to  state  the  truth. 
The  failure  to  find  reference  to  the  Old  Council  of  Safety  in 
such  of  Colonel  Lyon's  literary  remains,  except  the  Mason  letter 
of  1817,  as  have  come  into  the  present  writer's  hands,  although 
negative  and  inferential,  adds  to  the  plausibility  of  the  opinion 


1 62  MATTHEW   LYON 

expressed  by  Mr.  Dana.  In  reality,  however,  I  think  Mr. 
Dana  is  mistaken.  On  the  other  side,  there  is  much  to  be  said 
favorable  to  the  opposite  opinion  expressed  by  well  known  his 
torical  writers  in  Vermont,  that  Colonel  Lyon  was  a  member  of 
the  Council  in  question.  Had  the  author  not  been  aware  of  this 
he  would  have  omitted  the  copious  extracts  from  Mr.  Thomp 
son's  address  before  the  Vermont  Historical  Society,  in  which 
Lyons  membership  and  prominence  in  the  Council  are  dis 
cussed  as  undoubted  facts.  In  the  sketch  of  Thomas  Chitten- 
den  by  David  Read,  the  name  of  Matthew  Lyon  is  also  given 
as  a  member  of  this  Council.0  In  the  "  Report  of  a  British 
Agent/'  published  among  the  Haldimand  Papers,  this  occurs : 
"  Captain  Lyon  (one  of  the  Council)  told  *  *  *  that 
Governor  Chittenden  would  settle  with  Britain  if  the  present 
leading  men  in  Vermont  were  allowed  to  continue  such  under 
Britain."6  Commenting  on  this,  Walton  says,  "Lyon  was 
never  a  member  of  any  Council,  unless  it  was  the  Council  of 
Safety,  which  closed  more  than  two  years  previous  to  these  re 
ports."6  "  Colonel  Allen's  report  to  the  Council,"  says  another 
of  Haldimand's  agents,  "  was  kept  so  profound  a  secret  that  no 
man  of  the  King's  friends,  nor  of  the  rebels  of  high  or  low  de 
gree  could  come  to  the  knowledge  of  a  syllable  of  it  from  the 
Council,  except  a  few  words  dropped  from  Captain  Lyon,  to 
the  following  purport,  viz :  *  Vermont  would  never  make  up 
the  Tories'  losses,  and  if  they  could  not  settle  with  General 
Haldimand  pretty  much  on  their  own  terms,  they  would  baffle 
him  with  flags  and  prolong  the  time  till  they  were  better  able 


a  Vermont  Historical  Magazine,  I,  911. 
6  Vermont  Historical  Society,  II,  137. 
c  Governor  and  Council,  I,  72. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  163 

to  oppose  him.'  "a  The  last  quotation,  found  in  the  "  Report 
of  a  British  Agent,"  is  also  taken  from  the  Haldimand 
Papers,  and  implies  that  L.  was  a  member  of  the  Council. 
Mr.  Walton  sums  up  the  testimony  in  favor  of  Lyon's  mem 
bership  in  the  following  words :  "  Assuming,  as  it  is  certainly 
safe  to  do,  that  Lyon  was  qualified  for  the  place,  his  close  rela 
tions  with  Chittenden  and  the  Aliens,  *  *  *  are  the 
strong  points  in  favor  of  the  probability  that  he  rather  than 
any  other  man  suggested  by  Mr.  White,  or  any  other  man  who 
can  be  suggested,  was  the  twelfth  member  of  the  Council  of 
Safety"*  The  italics  in  the  last  words  are  those  of  Mr.  Wal 
ton. 

Lyon  says,  in  his  letters  and  speeches,  that  he  was  adjutant 
of  his  regiment  the  first  year  of  the  war.  He  was  lieutenant  in 
the  Continental  line  when  ordered  to  Jericho  by  Gates  in  1776, 
and  paymaster  with  the  rank  of  captain  in  Col.  Seth  Warner's 
regiment  in  1777.  General  Schuyler's  letter  to  Colonel  War 
ner,  in  which  Lyon's  appointment  to  the  last  position  was  an 
nounced,  has  been  already  quoted.  A  grandson  of  Colonel 
Lyon,  Mr.  T.  A.  Lyon,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  among  other 
valuable  papers  which  he  has  furnished  to  the  author,  sent  the 
original  commission  of  his  grandfather  as  second  lieutenant  in 
the  Continental  line  in  1776.  Some  autograph  hunter  has  cut 
out  the  general's  signature  (that  of  Horatio  Gates  most  prob 
ably),  but  the  rest  of  the  commission  is  intact,  and  is  here  given 
in  full  as  an  interesting  and  perhaps  never  before  published 
Revolutionary  document.  It  is  written  in  a  bold,  fine  hand, 
and  bears  the  wax  seal  of  the  general  whose  name  has  been 
cut  out. 

0  Vermont  Historical  Society,  II,  137, 
6  Governor  and  Council,  I,  712-3. 


164  MATTHEW  LYON 

"By  Virtue  of  the  Power  &  Authority  Given  by  Major  Genera! 
Schuyler. 
"To  Matthew  Lyon,  Gentleman: 

"  Reposing  especial  trust  &  Confidence  in  your  Patriotism,  Valour, 
Conduct  &  Fidelity,  I  do  by  these  presents  constitute  &  Appoint  you 
to  be  a  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States  rais'd 
for  the  defence  of  American  Liberty,  &  for  repelling  every  hostile 
Invasion  thereof.  You  are  therefore  carefully  &  diligently  to  dis 
charge  the  duty  of  a  Second  Lieutenant  by  doing  &  performing  all 
manner  of  things  thereunto  belonging.  And  I  do  strictly  charge  & 
require  all  officers  &  soldiers  under  your  command  to  be  obedient 
to  your  Orders  as  a  Second  Lieutenant  &  you  are  to  observe  & 
follow  such  Orders  &  directions  from  time  to  time  as  you  shall 
receive  from  the  present  or  a  future  Convention  of  the  United  States 
of  America  or  Committee  thereof,  for  that  purpose  appointed,  or 
Commander  in  chief  for  the  time  being  of  the  Army  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  other  your  Superior  Officer,  according  to  the  rules 
&  discipline  of  War;  in  pursuance  of  the  trust  repos'd  in  you  this 
Commission  to  Continue  in  force  untill  revok'd  by  me,  the  present, 
or  a  future  Convention  of  the  United  States. 

"  dated  at  Ticonderoga  this  igth  day  of  July  1776. 

"  (Signature  cut  out.)       [Heavy  wax  seal.] 
"  By  his  Honour's 
"  Command. 

"WM.  CLASSON,  Secny." 

Rev.  Pliny  H.  White,  in  his  1858  address  'before  the  Ver 
mont  Historical  Society,  states  that  Lyon  was  first  heard  of  in 
the  Hampshire  Grants  as  a  laborer  employed  by  Thomas  Chit- 
tenden  at  Arlington.  This  is  obviously  an  error.  Chittenden 
first  took  up  his  residence  at  Arlington  in  1777,°  nearly  four 
years  after  Lyon  had  bought  land  and  settled  in  Wallingford.6 

o  "  Chittenden,  after  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  purchased  a  farm  in 
Arlington,  on  which  he  resided  until  1787."— Daniel  Chipman's  Life! 
of  Governor  Chittenden,  p.  17. 

&  A  letter  to  the  author  from  Joel  C.  Baker,  Esq.,  of  Rutland,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Saunderson's  Sketch  of  Wallingford  at  a  former  page.  Also/ 
Lyon's  Congressional  Narrative,  1798. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  165 

Mr.  White  cites  no  proof  or  record  evidence  for  his  statement, 
and  the  author,  after  diligent  search,  has  found  nothing  what 
ever  to  support  it,  but  everything  to  contradict  it.  The  orator 
in  this  instance  no  doubt  trusted  to  rumor,  which  for  a  season 
among  the  Federalists  was  very  busy  with  its  thousand 
tongues  disseminating  idle  stories  concerning  Matthew  Lyon. 
The  address,  while  marked  by  much  of  antiquarian  research 
into  a  subject  then  almost  forgotten,  and  which  Mr.  White 
contributed  not  a  little  to  rescue  from  oblivion,  has  this  defect, 
perhaps  inseparable  from  all  hasty  treatment :  Portions  of  the 
narrative  are  taken  at  second  hand  and  from  neighborhood 
gossip,  as  for  example,  where  he  says  Lyon's  second  wife  "  bore 
him  four  children,"  whereas  the  number  was  eight;0  where  he 
says,  "  Lyon's  first  appearance  in  public  life  was  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1776  *  *  *  at  Jericho/'  whereas  he  was  one  of 
Ethan  Allen's  storming  party  at  Ticonderoga  in  1775,  and  ad 
jutant  to  Seth  Warner's  regiment  also  in  1775  ;6  where  he  says, 
in  speaking  of  Lyon's  conviction  and  fine  under  the  Sedition 
Law,  that  "  it  was  not  till  1833,  several  years  after  his  death, 
that  the  fine  and  costs  were  refunded  to  his  heirs,"  whereas  the 
act  of  Congress  referred  to  bears  date  July  4,  1840;°  and 
finally,  not  to  dwell  on  the  subject  longer,  where  he  says  Lyon 
"  was  elected  the  first  delegate  to  Congress  "  from  the  Terri 
tory  of  Arkansas,  whereas  he  was  elected  the  second  delegate, 
having  been  defeated  by  another  candidate  at  the  first  elec- 
tion.d 


«  Lyon's  family  record  and  his  daughter's  (Mrs.  Roe's)  letters  to  au 
thor. 

&  Lyon's  letter  to  Senator  Mason  and  his  1798  Narrative. 

c  Congressional  Globe  for  1840. 

*  Register  of  Congressional  Debates,  1820. 


1 66  MATTHEW   LYON 

Thomas  Chittenden,  Matthew  Lyon  and  Jonathan  Spafford 
emigrated  from  Litchfield  county,  Connecticut,  in  1774,  and  it 
is  possible,  as  they  took  household  and  other  effects  with  them 
to  the  Hampshire  Grants,  that  Lyon,  always  fertile  in  resources 
atid  a  natural  organizer,  may  have  been  employed  by  Chitten 
den  to  transport  the  effects  of  the  party  to  the  new  country 
from  historic  old  Litchfield.  Everywhere  that  the  records  dis 
close  Chittenden  and  Lyon  in  contact,  they  appear  as  equals 
and  friends.  They  were  members  of  the  Dorset  Convention 
of  July  24,  1776.  They  were  leading  members  of  the  Old 
Council  of  Safety  of  1777.  They  appeared  as  associates  at 
Arlington,  in  the  latter  part  of  1777,  to  crush  out  Toryism  then 
rampant  at  that  place.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  Lyon  mar 
ried  the  daughter  of  Chittenden  and  became  a  favorite  son-in- 
law  of  the  famous  Governor. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LOST  SIBYL  LEAVES  OF  CHITTENDEN — THE  HALDIMAND  IN 
TRIGUE — IRA  ALLEN'S  CONFESSION — COLLISION  AT  WEST 
MINSTER  BETWEEN  CHIPMAN  AND  LYON — COUNCIL  OF  CEN 
SORS  CAUSE  LYON'S  IMPEACHMENT — LYON  VINDICATED — 

DEATH  OF  HIS  WIFE — HIS  REMARRIAGE  TO  GOVERNOR  CHIT- 

TENDEN'S   DAUGHTER — HE   FOUNDS   FAIR  HAVEN — DISTIN 
GUISHED  CAREER  IN  VERMONT. 

"TOURING  the  period  of  the  residence  of  Thomas  Chittenden 
and  Matthew  Lyon  at  Arlington  the  cause  of  Vermont, 
like  a  pendulum  betwixt  despair  and  hope,  now  trembled  on 
the  verge  of  ruin,  and  again  was  carried  to  the  opposite  ex 
treme  of  anticipated  triumph,  with  State  sovereignty  the  watch 
word  in  every  fight  and  against  every  enemy. 

"Ho!  all  to  the  borders,  Vermonters  come  down, 
With  your  breeches  of  deer-skin  and  jackets  of  brown, 
With  your  red  woolen  caps  and  your  moccasins,  come 
To  the  gathering  summons  of  trumpet  and  drum. 

****** 

Leave  the  harvest  to  rot  on  the  field  where  it  grows,  , 

And  the  reaping  of  wheat  for  the  reaping  of  foes; 

****** 

Our  vow  is  recorded,  our  banner  unfurled 

In  the  name  of  Vermont,  we  defy  all  the  world."* 

It  was  a  season  of  great  historical  action  upon  which  the 
destinies  not  only  of  Vermont  but  of  America  hinged.  France 
and  England,  the  century  fighters,  had  exchanged  places  in 

«  "  Song  of  the  Vermonters,"  by  John  G.  Whittier. 


1 68  MATTHEW  LYON 

their  relations  to  America.  Years  before,  when  English  do 
minion  on  this  continent  seemed  to  be  more  firmly  established 
than  ever  through  the  French  surrender  of  Canada  to  England, 
the  astute  Count  de  Vergennes  predicted  that  it  would  prove  a 
fatal  triumph  to  Great  Britain.  "  I  am  persuaded,"  said  he, 
"  England  will  ere  long  repent  of  having  removed  the  only 
check  that  could  keep  her  Colonies  in  awe.  They  stand  no 
longer  in  need  of  her  protection;  she  will  call  on  them  to  con 
tribute  toward  supporting  the  burdens  they  have  helped  to 
bring  on  her,  and  they  will  answer  by  striking  off  all  depend 
ence."0 

The  evolutions  of  the  mighty  struggle,  which  began  in  the 
forests  of  Pennsylvania  and  encircled  the  world  in  its  progress, 
nowhere  have  been  crayoned  out  more  strikingly  than  by  the 
great  English  novelist  Thackeray.  The  inspiration  of  the 
name  of  Washington  has  not  only  lent  to  genius  its  noblest 
theme,  but  it  has  enriched  the  English  language  with  some  of 
its  finest  literature.  But  where  in  a  single  stroke  is  the  epic 
depicted  so  graphically,  with  the  Heaven-sent  hero  carved  out 
before  the  naked  eye  with  the  distinctness  of  the  marble  of 
Canova,  as  in  this  gem  from  the  pages  of  "  The  Virginians?  " 

"  Up  to  this  time  (1753)  no  actual  blow  of  war  had  been 
struck.  The  troops  representing  the  hostile  nations  were  in 
presence — the  guns  were  loaded,  but  no  one  as  yet  had  cried 
'  Fire! '  It  was  strange  that  in  a  savage  forest  of  Pennsylvania 
a  young  Virginian  officer  should  fire  a  shot  and  waken  up  a 
war  which  was  to  last  for  sixty  years,  which  was  to  cover  his 
own  country  and  pass  into  Europe,  to  cost  France  her  Ameri- 

«  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  III,  305.  Irving's  Life  of 
Washington,  I,  281. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  169 

can  Colonies,  to  sever  ours  from  us,  and  create  the  great 
Western  Republic;  to  rage  over  the  Old  World  when  extin 
guished  in  the  New;  and,  of  all  the  myriads  engaged  in  the 
vast  contest,  to  leave  the  prize  of  the  greatest  fame  with  him 
who  struck  the  first  blow!  "a 

Vermont  played  a  not  insignificant  part  in  the  American 
Revolution,  and  if  the  papers  of  Governor  Chittenden  had  been 
preserved,  instead  of  having  been  sold,  as  Professor  Butler 
says,  "  to  a  peddler  with  paper  rags/'6  what  an  invaluable  treas 
ury  of  facts  might  have  been  gathered  from  his  correspondence. 
Those  letters  and  documents,  stuffed  in  the  vandal  ragbag  of  a 
peddler,  no  doubt  teamed  with  New  England  and  New  York 
history.  .Among  his  correspondents  were  Stark,  the  hero  of 
New  Hampshire ;  Hancock,  whose  signature  suggests  the  mas 
sive  statesman;  Sam.  Adams,  the  Hotspur  of  his  prolific  family; 
John  Adarrts,  with  his  "antiquated  British  surliness  ;"c  the  plas 
tic  Hamilton  and  sturdy  George  Clinton,  old  Oliver  Wolcott, 
of  Litchfield,  the  nursing  mother  of  Vermont;  honest  Philip 
Schuyler,  General  Haldimand,  the  British  tempter,  and  clarumet 
venerabile  nomen,  George  Washington  himself.  How  much  at 
that  time  of  trial  and  doubt  must  the  leaders  have  found  to 
say  in  those  lost  sibyl  leaves  of  Chittenden!  Each  trifle  even, 
if  I  may  borrow  the  quaint  figure  of  speech  of  Professor  But 
ler,  would  be  "  a  little  window  through  which  we  could  look 
into  the  distant  past."  Had  the  papers  of  Chittenden  come 
down  to  us  they  would  constitute  in  connection  with  Haldi- 

«  "  The  Virginians:  A  Tale  of  the  Last  Century,"  by  William  Make 
peace  Thackeray,  chapter  VI. 

*  "  Deficiencies  in  Our  History,"  an  address  before  the  Vermont 
Historical  Society,  by  James  Davie  Butler,  1846. 

c  Carpenter's  Life  of  Jefferson. 


I7O  MATTHEW   LYON 

mand's  papers  a  perfect  chapter  of  Revolutionary  history,  and 
make  much  clearer  than  it  is  now  ever  likely  to  be  our  knowl 
edge  of  the  secret  intrigue  between  the  British  and  Ver- 
monters.  As  it  is,  the  chapter  lacks  completeness,  important 
leaves  have  been  torn  out  in  the  most  interesting  parts,  and 
that  scapegoat,  the  peddler,  is  left  to  take  the  blame.  The 
origin  of  the  Chipman-Lyon  feud  lies  buried  in  this  lost  chapter 
of  Vermont  history. 

The  war  swept  southward  after  the  victory  of  Saratoga,  and 
New  York,  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  had  more  leis 
ure  in  which  to  harass  the  Green  Mountain  Boys,  and  renew 
attempts  to  dismember  their  territory  and  divide  it  up  among 
themselves.  Governor  Chittenden  met  the  crisis  undaunted, 
and  Ira  Allen  and  Matthew  Lyon  rendered  efficient  aid  in  de 
fense  of  the  liberty  and  separate  existence  of  Vermont.  Plot 
and  counterplot  succeeded  each  other  rapidly ;  •  first,  New 
Hampshire  towns,  and  next  New  York  towns  sought  to  form 
a  union  with  Vermont,  and  the  New  Hampshire  towns  tried  to 
disintegrate  the  Grants  under  the  specious  plea  of  erecting  a 
new  State  along  Connecticut  river  on  either  side  of  that  stream. 
New  Hampshire  and  New  York  appealed  to  Congress,  and 
that  body,  while  wisely  striving  to  remain  neutral,  was  com 
pelled  by  the  importunities  of  Governor  Clinton  and  President 
Weare  to  interfere  in  the  dispute  and  assume  an  attitude  of 
unfriendliness  to  Vermont.  Ira  Allen  and  Stephen  R.  Brad 
ley,  the  Vermont  agents,  were  admitted  to  the  Congressional 
deliberations,  but  without  a  voice  in  the  controversy,  and  per 
ceiving  an  adverse  disposition  on  the  part  of  Congress,  they 
promptly  withdrew  and  remonstrated  against  the  right  of  that 
body  to  sit  as  a  court  of  judicature  and  determine  the  fate  of 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS 

Vermont  by  virtue  of  authority  given  only  by  the  other  parties. 
The  Green  Mountain  Boys  now  renewed  the  scheme  of  union, 
known  as  the  East  and  West  unions  with  New  Hampshire 
and  New  York  towns,  and  not  satisfied  with  this  bold  step, 
which  was  partially  carried  out,  the  Vermont  leaders  entered 
upon  another  still  more  desperate  and  questionable  movement — 
nothing  less  than  secret  negotiations  with  the  enemy,  the  pro 
fessed  purpose  of  which  was  a  return  to  their  allegiance  to  the 
British  Crown.  This  step  was  only  taken  after  repeated  over 
tures  had  been  made  by  British  emissaries  to  bring  it  about. 
Two  letters  to  Ethan  Allen  from  an  adroit  and  scheming  New 
York  Tory  of  much  prominence,  Beverley  Robinson,  had  been 
forwarded  to  Congress  with  the  twofold  object  of  proving  the 
desire  of  Vermont  to  be  received  into  the  Confederacy  or,  fail 
ing  that,  and  rather  than  submit  to  New  York,  of  intimating 
the  intention  of  once  more  becoming  a  British  province.  Mat 
thew  Lyon,  as  Deputy  Secretary  or  Secretary  of  the  Council, 
certified  to  the  correctness  of  the  copies  of  these  letters,  the 
originals  of  which  were  kept  in  Vermont.  Congress  paid  no 
attention  to  the  letters,  and  negotiations  with  the  British, 
commonly  called  the  Haldimand  Intrigue,  were  opened  by 
Governor  Chittenden.  This  intrigue  has  provoked  furious 
abuse  from  a  multitude  of  hostile  writers,  and  led  to  more  wide 
spread  censure  of  Vermont  than  any  other  transaction  in  the 
history  of  the  State.  But  repulsed  by  Congress,  and  threatened 
with  destruction  by  their  neighbors,  the  then  leaders  of  the 
independent  republic  which  had  been  created  by  the  wisdom  of 
Chittenden  and  the  valor  of  the  Aliens,  Warner,  Lyon  and  their 
fellows,  felt  themselves  to  be  driven  to  the  dire  necessity  of  in- 


172  MATTHEW   LYON 

triguing  with  the  common  enemy  of  America  in  order  to  pre 
vent  the  annihilation  of  Vermont.     Exigent  casuistry ! 

Viewed  as  a  pure  question  of  international  law  or  of  the  law 
of  nations,  had  Vermont  the  right  to  treat  separately  with  Great 
Britain  during  the  Revolutionary  struggle?  Puffendorf  and 
Vattel  lay  down  the  law  that  a  de  facto  State,  having  declared 
its  independence  and  being  able  to  maintain  it,  may  claim 
recognition,  and  if  the  claim  is  acknowledged  by  other  nations 
or  made  good  by  military  force,  it  may  exercise  the  acts  of  a 
nation,  make  treaties,  declare  war,  conclude  peace,  and  wield 
the  sovereignty  of  a  separate  nationality.  In  1777  the  people 
of  Vermont  having  already  thrown  off  allegiance  to  Great 
Britain,  established  a  separate  government,  adopted  a  constitu 
tion  and  placed  their  affairs  in  the  hands  of  a  Council  of  Safety, 
they  seem  to  have  fulfilled  those  requirements  defined  by  the 
publicists  as  essential  to  constitute  a  de  facto  State.  The  right 
to  conclude  peace  with  the  public  enemy  cannot  be  denied  to 
such  a  government,  and  therefore  the  charge  of  treason  to  the 
United  States,  of  which  Vermont  was  not  a  part,  is  inapplicable 
to  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  or  to  their  leaders,  conceding 
even  that  peace  with  Great  Britain  at  the  risk  of  war  with  the 
United  States  was  the  object  of  their  negotiations  with  the 
British  General  Haldimand.  But  as  a  moral  and  patriotic 
question,  aside  from  the  constitutional  and  international  aspect 
of  the  case,  nothing  could  be  more  un-American  and  abhorrent 
than  actual  union  between  Great  Britain  and  Vermont  against 
the  United  States  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  The  negotiations 
which  took  place  were  carried  on  by  stealth  and  wrapped  in 
impenetrable  mystery,  an  acknowledgment  that  those  who  en 
gaged  in  them  on  the  part  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  were 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  173 

ashamed  of  the  business.  When  Sergeant  Tupper,  a  Green 
Mountain  Boy,  was  killed  by  St.  Leger's  men  and  some  of 
Tupper's  militiamen  were  captured,  the  secret  negotiations 
were  nearly  exposed  by  the  British  general.  He  buried  the 
American  with  distinguished  military  honors,  and  returned  his 
clothing  and  personal  effects  to  the  Vermonters,  with  a  letter 
of  apology  for  the  killing  of  the  sergeant  by  his  troops,  igno 
rant  of  the  secret  armistice  between  the  British  and  Green 
Mountain  Boys. 

The  contents  of  that  letter  became  known.  Colonel  Rey 
nolds,  called  by  some  chroniclers  Major  Runnells,  questioned 
Ira  Allen  sharply  as  to  the  meaning  of  such  a  transaction,  and 
got  a  fiery  and  unsatisfactory  answer.  Nathaniel  Chipman 
was  called  upon  to  doctor  the  letter,  and  produced  a  new  or 
bogus  one,  which  was  read  to  the  excited  people  as  the  real 
dispatch  from  St.  Leger,  and  the  matter  was  hushed  up,  but 
only  after  the  greatest  difficulty.  The  wrath  of  the  Vermonters 
was  aroused,  and  its  exhibition  was  infinitely  creditable  to  them 
as  American  patriots,  and  went  very  far  to  establish  the  truth 
of  Governor  Chittenden's  subsequent  admission  that  but  very 
few  persons,  only  eight  men,  were  aware  of  the  secret  negotia 
tions  with  the  enemy.  General  Stark,  then  at  Saratoga,  wrote 
to  Governor  Chittenden,  and  said:  "Accountable  as  I  am  to 
superiors  and  inexcusable  as  I  should  be  if  I  neglected  to  ad 
vise  them  of  any  circumstances  which  carry  the  aspect  of  in 
iquity,  I  wish  to  receive  the  most  authentic  information  re 
specting  the  sergeant  of  the  Vermont  militia  who  was  slain 
and  his  party  captured  by  the  enemy.  I  expect  your  Excel 
lency  will  enable  me  to  furnish  a  minute  detail  of  it  to  Congress 
by  affording  me  a  perusal  of  the  original  letter  which  the 


174  MATTHEW  LYON 

British  commanding  officer  is  said  to  have  written  to  you  on 
the  occasion.  This  will  be  returned  to  you  by  a  safe  hand  and 
a  copy  transmitted  to  Congress."®  Governor  Chittenden  put 
off  General  Stark  with  explanations. 

But  Vermont  was  truly  the  child  of  the  Revolution,  the  off 
spring  of  war,  a  State  evolved  from  the  storm  of  battle.  Did 
its  people  mean  to  join  the  British  and  desert  the  American 
cause?  Oh,  no!  The  blood-stained  field  of  Hubbardton,  where 
the  Green  Mountain  Boys  fell  stubbornly  fighting  in  the  patriot 
cause,  says  no;  their  blood  poured  out  like  water  on  the  glo 
rious  field  of  Bennington  forbids  the  dishonoring  thought. 
"  Greater  love  than  this  no  man  hath,"  says  the  inspired  Book, 
"  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends."  Traitors  are 
not  made  of  such  stuff  as  the  heroes  who  stormed  the  heights 
of  Ticonderoga,  followed  Montgomery  into  Canada,  marched 
to  the  rescue  of  Wooster  and  Sullivan,  and  helped  to  win  the 
victory  at  Saratoga.  The  offense  of  that  strange  intrigue  was 
in  its  ignoble  possibilities,  and  not  in  its  real  motives,  which 
seem  only  to  have  been  a  cunning  dalliance,  a  trick  of  war,  a 
pardonable  deception  practiced  on  the  British.  In  a  letter  to 
Governor  Chittenden,  General  Washington  gauged  the  quality 
of  the  transaction  correctly:  "They"  (the  British),  said  he, 
"  have  been  worsted  in  the  use  of  their  own  weapon — decep 
tion."" 

The  people  of  Vermont  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  most 
rigid  inquiry  into  the  Haldimand  intrigue.  Even  Col.  Wil 
liam  L.  Stone,  while  arraigning  the  leaders  with  severity, 
frankly  admits  that  the  people  were  not  in  the  plot.c 

«  Collections  Vermont  Historical  Society,  II,  197. 
*  Vermont  Historical  Society  Papers,  II,  p.  229. 
c  Life  of  Brant,  IJ,  203-4. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  175 

». 

We  have  seen  how  the  inhabitants  of  the  Grants  were  swept 
from  their  homes  and  fled  into  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
on  the  irruption  of  Burgoyne  into  Vermont  during  the  summer 
of  1777.  Matthew  Lyon's  wife  and  children,  driven  from  their 
farm  in  Wallingford,  fled  southward  with  the  rest  to  seek 
refuge  with  their  friends  out  of  the  track  of  the  invader,  prob 
ably  in  Litchfield  county,  Connecticut.  On  Lyon's  resignation 
from  the  Continental  army  and  return  to  Vermont  in  the  winter 
of  1777  or  spring  of  1778,  he  conducted  his  family  home  again 
to  the  Grants,  and  made  his  abode  in  the  Tory  stronghold  of 
Arlington.  He  continued  to  reside  in  this  place  for  the  next 
five  years,  held  many  positions  of  trust  and  distinction  in  the 
community,  and  on  the  election  of  Thomas  Chittenden  Gov 
ernor  of  the  State,  Lyon  was  chosen  by  the  people  of  Arlington 
to  succeed  that  distinguished  man  in  the  Legislature,  taking 
his  seat  in  that  body  at  the  beginning  of  1779. 

The  fierce  struggle  for  existence  which  Vermont  was  making 
at  this  time  against  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  and  to  a 
less  extent  against  Massachusetts,  rendered  the  military  arm 
of  the  young  mountain  republic  its  chief  reliance,  not  only 
against  the  British  and  Tories,  but  against  its  sister  States. 
Lyon  was  remarkably  active  in  these  emergencies,  and  rose  by 
regular  regimental  gradation  in  a  regiment  of  Green  Moun 
tain  Boys  from  the  rank  of  captain,  in  1778,  to  that  of  colonel 
at  the  opening  of  the  year  1782.  He  was,  with  the  two  Aliens, 
the  mainstay  of  Governor  Chittenden,  during  these  trying  for 
mative  days,  now  aiding  in  the  work  of  quelling  Tories,  fight 
ing  Yorkers  and  guarding  the  frontier  from  red-coats  and  In 
dians,  and  again  devising  measures  to  secure,  if  possible,  the 


176  MATTHEW  LYON 

admission  of  Vermont  into  the  Confederation  as  the  fourteenth 
sovereign  confederate  of  the  United  States. 

Chittenden  placed  the  number  of  persons  in  the  Haldimand 
secret  at  eight — Thomas  Chittenden,  Moses  Robinson,  Samuel 
Safford,  Ethan  Allen,  Ira  Allen,  Timothy  Brownson,  John  Fas- 
sett  and  Joseph  Fay.a  But  that  number  had  to  be  increased 
as  circumstances  required.6  Nathaniel  Chipman  was  taken 
into  the  intrigue,  and  to  him  was  assigned  the  questionable  task 
of  reconstructing  the  St.  Leger-Tupper  letter.0  He  was  after 
wards  the  founder  of  the  Federal  party  in  Vermont,  the  Fed 
eralists  being  disposed  later  on  to  censure  Governor  Chitten 
den  and  Matthew  Lyon,  the  founders  of  the  Democratic  party 
in  the  State,  then  called  the  Old  Guard,  for  their  part  in  the 
intrigue,  which,  like  the  shirt  of  Nessus,  sticks  forever  to  all 
who  had  lot  or  parcel  in  the  business.  Matthew  Lyon  cannot 
escape  some  small  degree  of  the  censure  attached  to  Judge 
Chipman.  Neither  of  them  was  taken  into  the  secret  at  first. 
Ira  Allen,  the  Machiavelli  of  his  time,  had  the  conspirator's 
talent  for  secrecy,  and  thought  one  was  better  than  two,  and 
eight  were  enough  for  every  contingency.  Chittenden  was  less 
subtle,  but  far  wiser,  and  he,  probably  against  Ira  Allen's 
wishes,  soon  added  Chipman,  Lyon,  Enos  and  one  or  two 
others  to  the  original  number  of  intriguers  who  were  playing 
double  with  the  British  and  Americans.  Lyon's  participation 
in  the  ruse  must  be  regarded  as  the  least  defensible  act  of  his 
whole  public  career.  He  was  improperly  blamed  and  unjustly 
punished  for  the  retreat  from  Jericho,  but  even  had  he  been 


oWilliams's  History  of  Vermont,  II,  214. 
*  Vermont  Historical  Collection,  I,  421. 
'Ibid,  II,  193. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  177 

guilty  of  disobedience  of  orders  with  which  he  was  then 
charged  by  Gates,  that  offense  would  have  been  immeasurably 
small  compared  with  any,  even  the  slightest  complicity  in  the 
plot  fomented  by  Haldimand  and  Ira  Allen,  the  professed 
object  of  which  was  submission  to  England  in  the  midst  of  a 
war  Vermont  had  plunged  into  with  the  States  of  which 
she  claimed  to  be  a  sister,  for  weal  or  woe,  for  "  liberty  or 
death."  I  am  aware  that  Jared  Sparks  described  the  intrigue 
by  the  rose-colored  remark  that  it  was  one  of  "  the  allowable 
stratagems  of  war."  But  Ira  Allen,  over  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury  after  the  Revolutionary  war  had  ended,  described  it  more 
bluntly,  and  the  final  verdict  of  history  will  be  that  the  prime 
mover  of  the  intrigue  knew  more  about  his  own  ultimate  de 
sign  than  the  amiable  Jared  Sparks.  "  If  the  events  of  war 
had  terminated  in  favor  of  Great  Britain,"  said  Ira  Allen  to 
Samuel  Hitchcock,  of  Burlington,  in  a  letter  dated  October  n, 
1809,  "  Vermont  would  have  been  a  favorite  Colony  under  the 
Crown ;  if  in  favor  of  the  United  States,  they  were  prepared  for 
a  sister  State  in  the  Federal  Union,  which  they  obtained."* 
This,  he  asserted  in  the  same  cold-blooded  confession,  gained 
for  Vermont  "the  securest  situation  of  any  of  the  people  in  the 
United  States."  Such,  then,  was  the  scheme  of  Ira  Allen,  but 
Governor  Chittenden,  Nathaniel  Chipman  and  Matthew  Lyon 
never  would  have  entered  into  any  plot  to  make  Vermont  in 
reality  a  "  Colony  under  the  Crown."  The  glory  or  the  shame 
of  this  self-confessed  scheme  belongs  exclusively  to  Ira  Allen. 
The  good  people  of  Vermont,  to  their  credit  be  it  said,  have 
ever  been  ashamed  of  the  Haldimand  intrigue.  But  that 

<*  Letters  of  Ira  Allen,  pp.  9-10,  in  the  Vermont  State  Library.    Also 
Governor  and  Council,  I,  116. 


MATTHEW   LYON 

shame  has  often  to  be  spelled  out  between  the  lines  of  many  of 
the  early  State  records  which,  without  such  a  key  to  explain 
them,  would  be  wholly  incomprehensible.  Thus  Slade  in  his 
"  State  Papers,"  and  the  Commissioners  of  Confiscation  and 
Sequestration  in  their  published  transactions,  have  suppressed 
the  names  of  Tories  subjected  to  confiscation.  The  secret 
records  of  the  Court  of  Confiscation  have  been  sedulously 
guarded  from  publication.  "  In  all  our  histories,"  says  Profes 
sor  James  Davie  Butler,  "  there  is  a  lack  of  characteristic  mi 
nutiae.  We  ask  for  face  to  face  details,  we  receive  far  off 
generalities."0  How  many  Tories  were  stripped  of  their  hold 
ings,  how  many  by  Haldimand's  orderwere  restored  to  their  pos 
sessions,  how  many  received  compensation  in  other  forms  as  the 
result  of  the  negotiations  with  the  British,  are  among  the  buried 
secrets  of  the  Old  Council  of  Safety  which  will  never  be  known. 
Matthew  Lyon,  I  repeat,  with  his  usual  impetuosity,  once 
blurted  out  to  one  of  Haldimand's  agents,  "  Vermont  would 
never  make  up  the  Tories'  losses,  and  if  they  could  not  settle 
with  General  Haldimand  pretty  much  on  their  own  terms,  they 
would  baffle  him  with  flags  and  prolong  the  time  till  they  were 
better  able  to  oppose  him."&  To  another  spy  of  Haldimand 
it  appears  Lyon  held  different  language.  "  Captain  Lyon  (one 
of  the  Council)  told  *  *  *  that  Governor  Chittenden  would 
settle  with  Britain,"  says  the  spy,  "  if  the  present  leading  men 
in  Vermont  were  allowed  to  continue  such  under  Britain,  their 
old  and  new  Grants  confirmed,  the  East  and  West  new  terri 
tories  confirmed,  all  their  laws  and  acts  confirmed  and  nothing 


a  Address  before  the  Vermont  Historical  Society,  Montpelier,  1846. 
&  Collections  Vermont   Historical   Society;   Haldimand   Papers,   II, 
137- 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  179 

revoked;  that  the  Tories'  farms  must  (he  supposed)  be  given 
up  to  them;  but  Vermont  would  not  make  good  any  other 
damage  to  them."a 

These  glimpses  afford  a  hint  of  the  cause  why  the  records 
of  the  old  Court  of  Confiscation  were  so  jealously  guarded, 
and  why  Matthew  Lyon  was  impeached  in  1785.  This  im 
peachment  took  place  while  Lyon  was  absent;  it  was  pressed 
to  conviction  and  fine  by  Nathaniel  Chipman  and  others, 
but  it  fell  through  entirely  when  Lyon  made  request  for  a 
new  trial.  He  was  able  to  show  that  his  refusal  to  surrender 
the  tell-tale  records,  even  if  they  were  not  then  destroyed,  which 
is  more  probable,  was  intended  to  screen  others  and  not  himself, 
that  their  exposure  would  produce  endless  litigation,  and  act 
like  a  bombshell  not  only  on  land  titles  but  on  reputations 
and  characters.  As  Chipman  was  in  the  Haldimand  intrigue,  he 
must  have  taken  the  hint,  for  the  prosecution  was  abandoned 
suddenly  and  completely.  But  it  would  have  been  more  just 
to  Colonel  Lyon,  who  was  evidently  innocent  of  any  personal 
misconduct  in  the  premises,  to  have  reversed  the  sentence,  re 
mitted  the  fine,  and  placed  on  record  the  evidence  of  his  ac 
quittal  of  the  charge  made  against  him  by  the  Council  of 
Censors.  In  effect  this  was  done,  the  conviction  was  treated 
as  a  nullity,  the  fine  was  not  enforced,  and  the  State,  not  Lyon, 
paid  the  costs  of  the  prosecution ;  but  the  record  was  practically 
suppressed.  Chipman  and  Lyon  were  political  opponents. 
The  enemies  of  the  latter  for  a  time  circulated  false  stories  con 
cerning  him,  and  invented  one  about  a  wooden  sword  which 
not  only  aroused  Colonel  Lyon's  indignation,  but  led  to  many 
an  encounter  with  fists  on  the  part  of  his  young  son,  Chitten- 

« Ibid,  II,  136. 


ISO  MATTHEW   LYON 

den  Lyon,  with  any  of  his  playmates  in  the  neighborhood  who 
ventured  upon  the  insulting  subject.  This  silly  story  was  to 
the  effect  that  General  Gates,  when  he  cashiered  Matthew  Lyon 
at  Ticonderoga,  ordered  him  to  wear  a  wooden  sword  and  to  be 
drummed  out  of  camp  to  the  music  of  the  Rogues  March. 
Rev.  Mr.  Beaman  describes  Chittenden  Lyon  as  a  very  fiery 
boy,  a  chip  of  the  old  block,  generous,  popular  and  impulsive, 
but  woe  betide  any  schoolmate  or  companion  of  his  who  dared 
to  say  wooden  sword  in  his  presence.  The  story  was  utterly 
false,  and  too  ridiculous  and  mean  to  be  long  tolerated  by  Ver- 
monters  who  knew  and  liked  Matthew  Lyon  for  his  courage 
in  every  fight,  for  his  conspicuous  rank  among  those  daring 
men,  the  Green  Mountain  Boys,  who  braved  death  in  many 
desperate  battles;  and  so  the  malicious  lie  was  soon  frowned 
down  and  run  down  by  the  whole  community,  and  no  more 
was  heard  of  it  in  Vermont.  In  March,  1780,  Chipman,  who 
seemed  always  to  be  jealous  of  Matthew  Lyon,  had  reflected 
upon  him  in  a  report  that  he  made  to  the  Legislature  on  the 
debts  due  from  persons  whose  estates  had  been  confiscated  by 
the  old  Council  of  Safety,  all  record  of  which  has  likewise  been 
suppressed.  Lyon,  who  was  innocent  of  any  wrong  doing  and 
well  knew  Chipman  was  more  deeply  implicated  in  the  Haldi- 
mand  intrigue  than  himself,  resented  the  imputations  by  at 
tacking  Judge  Chipman  at  Westminster,  and  engaging  in  a 
sharp  tussle  with  him  in  the  room  of  Mr.  Stephen  R.  Bradley 
at  that  place.  The  old  Council  of  Safety  and  its  Commission 
ers  of  Confiscation  were  clothed  with  the  full  sovereign  power 
of  the  people,  willingly  bestowed  upon  them  in  a  time  of  ex 
treme  peril,  when  the  sic  volo,  sic  jubeo  rule  was  the  only  law 
that  bound  them.  If  these  records  would  show  how  many  of 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  l8l 

Haldimand's  appeals  in  behalf  of  the  Tories,  and  demands  for 
the  restoration  of  their  confiscated  property,  had  been  complied 
with  by  the  old  Council  of  Safety,  public  policy  at  such  a  crisis 
and  the  ever  changing  current  of  events  no  doubt  dictated 
silence,  and  justified  the  care  shown  in  avoiding  unnecessary 
publicity.  Details  of  petty  calamities,  and  cruel  sufferings  of 
women  and  children  driven  from  their  homes  by  a  righteous 
enforcement  of  the  penalties  denounced  against  Toryism  and 
treason,  presented  a  moving  spectacle  to  the  heart  of  magnani 
mous  men;  but  it  was  not  a  spectacle  to  put  on  exhibition  in 
the  gazettes.  Governor  Chittenden  and  Matthew  Lyon  pre 
ferred  to  go  about  doing  good  by  stealth  among  the  distressed 
inhabitants  of  Arlington  and  the  surrounding  country,  clothing 
the  naked,  feeding  the  hungry,  and  discharging  the  other  offices 
of  charity,  rather  than  to  expose  to  public  gaze  the  miseries 
entailed  upon  the  families  of  Tories  by  the  hard  necessities  of 
a  time  of  war  and  of  conflicts  with  domestic  traitors  to  the 
American  cause.  "  The  Governor  took  upon  himself,"  says 
the  historian  of  the  town,  Rev.  F.  A.  Wadleigh,  "  the  task  of 
visiting  from  time  to  time  every  family,  and  taking  an  account 
of  the  provisions  on  hand.  Under  his  oversight,  and  by  his 
impartial  and  disinterested  counsel,  distribution  was  so  made 
that,  although  all  were  pinched,  none  perished."*1  Modera 
tion  is  creditable  where  power  is  unlimited.  The  pa 
triots  exercised  their  autocratic  powers  so  rarely  and  so 
mercifully  that  only  the  one  or  two  strictures  of  the  Federalists 
led  by  Judge  Chipman,  and  they,  when  brought  to  the  test 
against  Lyon,  utterly  breaking  down,  ever  have  been  made 
against  Thomas  Chittenden  and  his  Council.  Once  besides 
«  Vermont  Historical  Gazetteer,  I,  130. 


1 82  MATTHEW   LYON 

the  instance  mentioned,  Chittenden,  who  was  suspected  of  hav 
ing  strained  a  point  in  Ira  Allen's  favor  in  some  land  title,  was 
attacked  by  the  Federalists  in  the  Legislature  and  that  year  he 
was  defeated  for  Governor,  but  an  investigation,  as  in  the 
attacks  on  Lyon,  proved  his  innocence  of  any  wrongdoing, 
and  the  year  after  his  defeat  Thomas  Chittenden,  the  leader  of 
the  "  Old  Guard,"  was  again  triumphantly  elected  Governor,  a 
position  he  continued  to  hold  nearly  as  long  as  he  lived. 

The  rencontre  between  Chipman  and  Lyon  in  the  room  of 
Mr.  Bradley  at  Westminster,  Vermont,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1780,  must  have  caused  a  deep-seated  enmity  between 
the  two  men.  Nearly  twenty  years  afterwards  Judge  Chip 
man,  knowing  the  feelings  of  Colonel  Lyon  upon  the  subject 
of  his  having  been  unjustly  cashiered  from  the  army  by  Gen 
eral  Gates,  and  that  Lyon  would  resent  any  slurs  upon  his  con 
duct  in  that  affair  (for  Lyon  told  Chipman  as  much),  neverthe 
less  circulated  the  old,  forgotten  wooden  sword  slander  among 
Senators  and  Congressmen  at  Philadelphia.  Lyon  retorted 
by  saying:  "  I  could  prove  that  the  gentleman  from  Vermont 
(Chipman),  who  was  called  to  give  testimony  against  me,  has 
with  the  politeness  peculiar  to  a  certain  country  which  I  will 
not  now  name,  insulted  me  and  received  due  chastisement 
from  me  for  it."a 

This  was  a  home-thrust,  and  Lyon  offered  to  bring  forward 
testimony  from  Vermont  to  prove  that  he  had  chastised  Judge 
Chipman  in  1780  for  an  unwarranted  affront.  The  next  day, 
February  9,  1798,  smarting  under  this  retort,  Chipman  ad 
dressed  a  letter  to  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Privileges 


Annals  of  Congress,  1798,  p.  974. 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  183 

giving  his  version  of  that  ancient  squabble  with  Colonel  Lyon. 
It  was  read  in  the  House,  and  has  found  a  place  in  the  "Annals 
of  Congress."*  It  is  a  plain  attempt  to  heap  ridicule  on  a  man 
he  did  not  like.  Judge  Chipman  taxes  credulity  largely  in  ask 
ing  our  acceptance  of  the  story  that  he,  quite  a  small  man, 
even  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Bradley,  was  able  to  lay  a  big  two- 
hundred  pound  athlete  like  Lyon  on  his  back — not  only  that, 
but  Lyon,  he  asserts,  was  in  a  towering  rage,  and  yet  remained 
passive  and  unresisting  in  the  hands  of  the  little  Judge,  while 
the  latter,  assisted  by  Mr.  Bradley,  lifted  the  powerful  Colonel 
into  the  air,  carried  him  across  the  room  and  laid  him  on  his 
back  in  the  opposite  corner.  The  whole  story  smacks  of  Mun- 
chausen.  It  will  be  observed  that  Lyon  claimed  to  have  chas 
tised  his  adversary,  and  offered  to  prove  it.  Chipman,  him 
self  telling  the  story,  performed  his  herculean  task  of  flooring 
Lyon,  and  returned  to  his  seat  to  enjoy  the  joke.  Balderdash! 
The  following  is  Judge  Chipman's  letter : 

"  Philadelphia,  February  oth,  1798. 

"  Sir:  I  feel  it  my  duty,  in  this  public  manner,  to  vindicate  myself 
against  an  unwarranted  attack  on  my  eharacter  by  Mr.  Lyon  yester 
day  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  I  learn  that  he  there  asserted 
that  he  had  once  chastised  me  publicly  for  an  affront  which  I  had 
given  him.  This  assertion  of  Mr.  Lyon  is  without  foundation;  it  is 
false.  Nor  can  I  conjecture  to  what  circumstance  Mr.  Lyon  could 
have  alluded,  unless  it  might  be  a  ludicrous  transaction  which  took 
place  at  Westminster,  in  the  State  of  Vermont,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1780,  the  circumstances  of  which  I  beg  leave  to  relate:  The 
Legislature  of  Vermont  were  in  session  at  that  place;  Mr.  Lyon  at 
tended  as  a  member;  I  attended  on  business.  The  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  requested  me,  though  not  a  member,  to  examine  and  report 
my  opinion  concerning  certain  debts  due  from  persons  whose  es 
tates  had  been  confiscated.  I  had  made  a  report  accordingly,  at 
some  part  of  which  Mr.  Lyon  took  offence.  One  morning  Mr.  Lyon 

«Ibid,  pp.  999-1000. 


184  MATTHEW    LYON 

called  at  Mr.  Bradley's  room,  in  which  I  was  then  doing  business. 
No  person  was  in  the  room  but  Mr.  Bradley,  Mr.  Lyon  and  myself. 
Mr.  Bradley  and  I  sat  writing  at  opposite  sides  of  the  table;  Mr. 
Lyon  took  a  seat  by  the  table  at  the  side  of  Mr.  Bradley,  and  entered 
into  a  conversation  upon  the  subject  of  the  report  above  mentioned. 
He  soon  discovered  himself  to  be  somewhat  irritated,  and  in  a  very 
rude  and  pointed  manner  declared  that  no  man  who  had  a  spark 
of  honesty  could  have  reported  as  I  had  done.  Attacked  in  this  rude 
manner,  I  retorted  in  a  passion  that  he  was  an  ignorant  Irish  puppy. 

"  Mr.  Lyon  rose  in  a  violent  passion,  grasped  at  my  hair  that  was 
turned  back  with  a  comb,  which  he  broke  in  the  grasp.  I  was  at 
that  moment  mending  a  pen;  I  instantly  rose,  intending  to  revenge 
the  insult  with  the  knife  in  my  hand;  but  Mr.  Bradley  had  seized  Mr. 
Lyon  from  behind,  round  the  arms,  and  drew  him  back  a  little;  upon 
which  Mr.  Lyon,  bearing  himself  in  Mr.  Bradley's  arms,  threw  his 
feet  upon  the  table  to  kick  across.  The  awkward  appearance  of  Mr. 
Lyon  at  this  moment  and  the  grimaces  of  his  countenance  provoked 
me  to  laugh.  I  dropt  the  penknife,  seized  Mr.  Lyon's  feet,  and  in 
this  manner,  with  the  help  of  Mr.  Bradley,  who  still  kept  his  hold, 
carried  him  across  the  room  and  laid  him  on  his  back  in  a  corner. 
Mr.  Bradley  and  I  returned  to  our  seats,  laughing  very  merrily  at 
the  scene.  In  the  meantime  Mr.  Lyon  rose  from  his  corner,  stood 
a  short  time  in  apparent  agitation,  and  without  uttering  a  word.  At 
length  he  turned  upon  his  heel  with  these  expressions:  'Damn  it, 
I  will  not  be  mad  ' — forced  a  laugh,  and  left  the  room.  Nothing  ever 
afterwards  passed  between  Mr.  Lyon  and  myself  upon  this  subject. 
I  therefore  repeat  that  Mr.  Lyon's  assertion  is  wholly  without  founda 
tion. 

"  I  ask  pardon  for  the  trouble  I  have  given  the  House  upon  this 

business 

"  And  am,  with  respect,  etc., 

"  NATHANIEL  CHIPMAN."« 

The  impeachment  of  Matthew  Lyon  by  the  Legislature  of 
Vermont  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Council  of  Censors, 
and  his  trial  and  conviction  by  the  Governor  and  Council,  to 
gether  with  his  appearance  before  the  latter  body  after  its  de 
cision  was  rendered  against  him,  when  the  whole  proceedings 


Annals  of  Congress,  1798,  pp.  999-1000. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  185 

were  summarily  squelched,  the  State  itself  and  not  Lyon  pay 
ing  the  costs  of  prosecution,  have  been  digested  and  will  now 
be  given  in  historical  sequence  for  the  first  time.  This  ac 
count  is  scattered  through  long  and  tedious  proceedings  on 
other  subjects,  and  is  practically  buried  away  among  the  musty 
memorials  and  worm-eaten  lumber  of  the  State  archives.  The 
author  has  been  at  no  little  pains  to  dig  out  this  record,  but  as 
it  has  never  before  seen  the  light  in  a  collected  and  intelligible 
shape  its  historical  value  in  vindicating  Lyon  from  unfounded 
aspersions  'justifies  the  compilation.  It  may  be  added  that 
Lyon's  old  enemy,  Nathaniel  Chipman,  was  one  of  the  mana 
gers  of  the  impeachment  on  the  part  of  the  Assembly.  Hinc 
illae  lachrymae. 

"  Council  of  Censors.  The  first  Council  met  at  Norwich  in 
June,  1785;  at  Windsor  in  September  following,  and 
at  Bennington  in  February,  1786,  and  revised  the  en 
tire  constitution.  *  *  *  The  Council  also  instituted  the 
impeachment  of  Matthew  Lyon  by  a  resolution  requesting  the 
Assembly  to  impeach  him.  This  last  fact  is  stated  in  Slade's 
record  in  a  note  at  p.  530."*  "  October  24  Colonel  Barrett  was 
again  convicted,  suspended  for  six  months  and  required  to  pay 
the  costs  of  prosecution — £11  195.  At  the  same  session  Mat 
thew  Lyon  was  impeached  for  refusing  to  deliver  the  records 
of  the  Court  of  Confiscation  to  the  Council  of  Censors.  Mr. 
Lyon  was  convicted  and  ordered  to  deliver  the  record.  He 
was  also  sentenced  to  a  reprimand  and  to  a  fine  of  £500  on  his 
neglect  to  appear.  He  appeared,  the  sentence  was  read,  and 
then,  on  Mr.  Lyon's  request,  a  new  trial  was  granted.  The 


Vermont  Historical  Society,  II,  491-2. 


1 86  MATTHEW   LYON 

case  seems  not  to  have  been  tried  again. "a  This  was  a  strange 
way  to  smother  such  a  matter.  Either  Lyon  was  guilty  or  not. 
That  his  "  request  "  was  supported  by  such  reasons  as  to  con 
vince  the  Court  that  the  Council  of  Censors  had  burned  their 
fingers  by  intermeddling  with  the  records  of  the  old  Court  of 
Confiscation,  wherein  the  plotters  with  Sir  Frederick  Haldi- 
mand  may  have  kept  records  which  might  lay  bare  the  se 
crets  of  that  intrigue,  becomes  strongly  apparent  by  the  incon 
sequential  backdown  of  the  impeachers  after  Lyon  appeared 
and  made  answer  or  request  for  a  new  trial.  Searching  fur 
ther  for  details  which  might  throw  light  on  this  persecution 
rather  than  prosecution,  the  present  writer  has  unearthed  the 
following  particulars: 

"  M.  Lyon's  impeachment.  Record  of  the  Governor  and 
Council  at  the  session  with  the  General  Assembly  at  Wind 
sor." 

"  Saturday,  October  15,  1.785.  *  *  *  A  bill  was  received 
from  the  Council  of  Censors  impeaching  Col.  Matthew  Lyon 
'  for  refusing  to  deliver  to  ye  order  of  this  Board  (viz.)  The 
Council  of  Censors  the  Records  of  Confiscation,  and  was 
read.'  "6 

"  Monday,  October  17,  1785.  *  *  On  motion  ordered 
that  to-morrow  morning  10  o'clock  be  assigned  for  the  trial 
of  Colonel  Matthew  Lyon  on  the  impeachment  ordered  by  the 
Council  of  Censors;  and  that  a  copy  of  this  order  be  trans 
mitted  to  the  General  Assembly  (now  sitting)  by  the  Secretary, 
that  they  have  opportunity  to  give  necessary  order  to  the 
prosecution  of  said  cause." 
a  Vermont  Historical  Society,  II,  428;  MS.  Assembly  Journal,  Vol. 

II,  498-9. 
&Gov.  and  C,  III,  81. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  187 

"  Tuesday,  October  18,  1785.  According  to  yesterday's 
order  the  Council  resolved  themselves  into  a  Court  for  the 
trial  of  impeachments,  his  Honor,  the  deputy-governor  "  (Paul 
Spooner),a  "  in  the  chair.  The  trial  of  Matthew  Lyon,  Esqr., 
came  on,  it  being  on  an  impeachment  brought  against  him  by 
the  General  Assembly  for  '  knowingly,  wilfully  and  corruptly 
refusing  to  deliver  the  Records  of  the  late  Court  of  Confisca 
tion  to  the  order  of  the  Council  of  Censors.'  The  said  Mat 
thew  Lyon  being  called  to  plead  to  said  impeachment,  plead 
not  guilty,  and  put  himself  on  the  Court  for  Tryal.  Evidences 
were  educed  for  and  against  the  prisoner  and  after  the  argu 
ments  made  use  of  therefrom,  and  from  the  nature  of  the 
cause,  the  decision  was  submitted  to  the  Court.  Adjourned." 

"  Wednesday,  iQth  October,  1785.  Court  met  according  to 
adjournment  and  resumed  the  consideration  of  said  cause  for 
judgment,  and  after  deliberation  thereon,  came  to  the  follow 
ing  determination,  vizt:  This  Court  consider  and  adjudge  that 
the  said  Matthew  Lyon  is  guilty  of  the  crime  alleged  against 
him  in  the  impeachment.  Therefore  order  that  he  deliver  the 
Records  of  the  late  Court  of  Confiscation  to  the  Honorable 
the  Council  of  Censors,  taking  their  Rect.  And  receive  a 
reprimand  from  the  president  of  this  Court;  And  on  his  neglect 
or  refusal  immediately  to  attend  to  and  comply  with  and  per 
form  the  same  that  he  pay  a  fine  of  five  hundred  pounds  £ 
money  to  the  Treasurer  of  this  State,  and  that  he  also  pay  cost 
of  prosecution.  Adjourned  to  2  ock  p.  m.  Met  according 
to  adjournment.  The  said  Matthew  Lyon,  Esqr.,  appeared  in 

°  The  Chipman  party  evidently  took  advantage  of  the  absence  of 
Governor  Chittenden,  Lyon's  father-in-law,  from  the  chair. 


1 88  MATTHEW  LYON 

Court  when  the  preceding  sentence  of  the  Court  was  read, 
whereupon  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  Esqr.  moved  the  Court 
for  a  new  trial,  alleging  as  the  reason  for  his  request  that  his 
cause  had  not  been  rightly  understood  and  defended  before  the 
Honorable  Court;  the  Court  taking  the  same  into  considera 
tion  ordered  that  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  Esqr.,  be  allowed  a 
new  trial  agreeable  to  his  request,  and  that  Friday  next  10 
o'clock  in  the  morning  be  assigned  for  the  said  trial  to  com 
mence."*  . 

But  Friday  came  and  went,  and  no  trial  took  place. 
Potent  indeed  must  have  been  that  request  of  Colonel  Lyon. 
That  some  political  manoeuvre  or  attack  was  hidden  under 
this  proceeding  seems  probable,  for  the  Governor  of  the  State, 
who  was  president  of  the  Court,  was  absent,  and  Judge  Chip- 
man  was  one  of  the  managers  against  the  defendant.  Yet 
Lyon  neither  paid  500  pounds  penalty,  nor  received  any  repri 
mand,  nor  as  will  appear  further  on,  did  he  pay  a  cent  of  costs 
of  the  prosecution  of  the  case.  He  stamped  out  the  whole 
trial  and  judgment  of  the  Court  by  what  he  told  his  prosecu 
tors,  but  not  one  syllable  is  recorded  of  what  that  sledge 
hammer  speech  contained.  The  case  fell  through,  and  the 
greatest  injustice  was  done  to  the  defendant  by  the  suppression 
of  the  record  of  what  must  surely  have  been  a  triumphant  vin 
dication  of  his  personal  and  official  character  from  a  serious 
charge  affecting  both.  That  he  was  held  absolutely  blameless 
is  shown  by  the  tell-tale  fact  which  the  author  has  dug  out  of 
another  and  disconnected  part  of  the  records  of  the  Court, 


«Gov.  and  C,  pp.  83-4. 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  189 

namely,  that  the  State  itself,  and  not  Lyon,  paid  the  costs  of 
the  prosecution.  Here  is  the  record : 

"  Adjourned  from  Friday  to  Monday  next."  But  before 
adjourning1  on  Friday  this  tell-tale  resolution  was  adopted  by 
the  Court,  which  shows  that  Lyon  had  won,  and  that  his  en 
emies  took  refuge  in  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  beat 
about  the  bush  in  another  direction. 

"  Resolved  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  join  a  com 
mittee  appointed  from  the  General  Assembly  to  take  under 
consideration  the  proceedings  of  the  Court  of  Confiscation,  the 
Commissioners  of  Sales  and  Sequestration,  and  the  state  of  the 
titles  of  those  who  have  purchased  confiscated  estates,  state 
facts  and  make  report.  The  Assemblis  Committee,  Mr.  Slum- 
way,  Mr.  Chipman,  Mr.  Knoulton,  Mr.  Tilden  and  Mr.  Loomis. 
Members  of  Council,  his  honor  the  deputy  govr  and  Mr.  Rob 
inson — Adjourned."*  It  thus  appears  that  the  Assembly  took 
the  initiative  in  this  abandonment  of  the  attack  on  Colonel 
Lyon.  The  finale  was  the  payment  of  the  costs  by  the  State, 
and  that  is  stated  in  the  following  extract  from  the  records  of 
the  Governor  and  Council : 

"  Wednesday,  26  Oct.  1785. 

"  Resolved  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  tax  the  bills  of  cost 
in  the  cases  of  Colonel  Lyon  and  Justice  Barrett's  impeachments. 
Members  chosen  Mr.  Fletcher  and  Mr.  Porter.  & 

"  Resolved  that  the  Treasurer  be  directed  to  pay  unto  Israel  Smith, 
Esqr,  the  sum  of  two  pounds  twelve  shillings  and  46.  £  Money  out 
of  some  of  the  Hard  Money  taxes,  it  being  the  bill  of  cost  on  the 
trial  of  Colonel  Matthew  Lyon  on  impeachment.  The  said  bill  of 
costs  is  as  follows,  viz*. 


« Ibid,  p.  87. 
b  Ibid,  p.  92. 


1 90  MATTHEW   LYON 

The  impeachment £o    15      o 

Two  attorney  fees,  153 i     10      o 

One  subpoena 004 

Service o      2      6 

One  travel  six  miles o      I      6 

Attendance  one  day o      3      o 

£2    12    14 

"  This  bill  was  examined  and  taxed  by  the  Hon.ble  Samuel  Fletcher 
and  Thomas  Porter  Esqr,  by  Order  of  Council."0 

Poor  Justice  Barrett  did  not  fare  so  well. 

"  Thursday,  27  Oct.  1785. 

"  The  bill  of  costs  in  the  case  of  Col.  Barrett's  impeachment  on  the 
trial  being  committed  to  Mr.  Niles  and  Mr.  Fletcher  to  examine  and 
tax  (is)  as  follows  to  the  amount  of  £11,  19,  o,  vizV  (A  blank  left 
for  items  on  the  record  is  not  filled.) 

And  one  year  later  an  execution  issued  against  the  Justice 
as  appears  by  the  following  entry: 

"Thursday,  26  Oct.  1786. 

"An  execution  issued  against  John  Barrett  Esqr,  for  £27,  i2s  cost 
of  the  suit  of  impeachment. 

"Signed  by  Order  of  Council."* 

Vermont  writers  have  always  been  in  doubt  as  to  the  out 
come  of  this  prosecution  of  Colonel  Lyon  by  somebody  inter 
ested  in  getting  hold  of  the  records  of  the  Court  of  Confisca 
tion.  The  attempt  to  intimidate  Lyon  by  fine  and  impeach 
ment  utterly  fell  through,  the  State  was  saddled  with  the  costs, 
and  the  tell-tale  record  was  practically  suppressed.  Here  for 
the  first  time  a  connected  narrative  of  this  very  tricky  transac 
tion  is  presented  to  the  public,  and  especially  to  the  people  of 
Vermont,  who  have  always  had  a  kindly  place  in  their  hearts 
for  Matthew  Lyon.  Truth  in  the  end  cannot  be  kept  back. 


a  Ibid,  p.  93. 
&  Ibid,  p.  112. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  19! 

Reference  has  been  made  in  these  pages  to  the  intimate 
relations  between  Ethan  Allen  and  Matthew  Lyon.  Their 
friendship  began  in  the  early  day  while  they  yet  lived  in  Litch- 
field  County,  Connecticut.  Allen's  iron  works  at  Salisbury 
must  have  been  the  place  where  Lyon  acquired  intimate  knowl 
edge  of  the  iron  business  in  which  *he  was  afterwards  so  exten 
sively  engaged  in  Vermont.  His  marriage  in  Connecticut  to 
Miss  Hosford,  a  niece  of  Ethan  Allen,  confirmed  their  rela 
tions,  and  the  intimacy  between  the  two  families  continued  to 
be  kept  up  in  Vermont  in  the  closest  ties  of  friendship.  Lyon 
named  one  of  his  daughters  Loraine,  after  Loraine  Allen,  as  a 
compliment  to  and  mark  of  his  affection  for  the  favorite 
daughter  of  General  Allen.  Of  the  latter  lady  many  anecdotes 
are  related  by  Vermont  chroniclers,  of  her  likeness  to  her  cele 
brated  father,  both  in  character  and  person,  and  even  some  say 
that  she  shared  to  a  certain  extent  in  her  father's  scepticism  in 
matters  of  religion.  But  woman's  nature  shrinks  from  infi 
delity,  and  the  story  runs  that  Loraine  Allen  in  her  last  sick 
ness  asked  her  father,  "Whose  faith  shall  I  embrace,  yours  or 
that  of  my  mother?  "  The  redoubtable  Ethan,  forgetting  his 
"  Oracles  of  Reason,"  and  deeply  moved,  answered,  "  That  of 
your  mother."  Whether  authentic  or  not,  the  story  has  come 
down  to  us,  and  President  Dwight  has  made  it  the  text  of  a 
good  homily.  Rev.  F.  A.  Wadleigh,  in  his  interesting  chron 
icles  of  Arlington,  has  some  reminiscences  of  Loraine  Allen, 
whose  vein  of  humor  sometimes  ran  into  odd  conceits.  She 
was  very  much  attached  to  Colonel  Lyon.  He  often  charmed 
her  by  descriptions  of  his  native  county  in  Ireland,  the  Vale  of 
Avoca  within  its  borders,  and  the  enchanting  scenery  of  the 
Golden  Belt.  One  day,  after  listening  to  an  animated  story  of 


192  MATTHEW    LYON 

Wicklow  by  the  Colonel,  she  quaintly  changed  the  subject  to 
death,  made  a  sport  of  dying,  and  told  him  she  meant  shortly 
to  leave  the  world,  and  had  selected  Ireland  as  her  place  of 
exit.  The  anecdote  is  related  by  Rev.  Mr.  Wadleigh,  who 
says :  "  She  asked  Colonel  Lyon,  who  was  very  fond  of  her, 
if  he  had  any  messages  to  send  to  his  friends  in  the  old  country, 
for  she  expected  to  go  by  the  way  of  Cork."a 

Fanny,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Ethan  Allen,  was  of 
a  more  serious  temperament  than  her  sister.  She  be 
came  a  convert  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  a  nun 
of  the  Sisterhood  or  Convent  Hotel  Dieu  in  Montreal. 
"  Multitudes  of  New  England  people  visiting  Montreal," 
says  the  writer  of  a  book  published  at  Burlington,  Ver 
mont,  in  1886,  "  flocked  to  the  Convent,  begging  to  see  the 
lovely  young  nun  of  the  Hotel  Dieu,  who  was  the  first  daughter 
New  England  had  given  to  the  sacred  enclosure,  and  whom 
they  claimed  as  belonging  especially  to  them  through  her  con 
nection  with  their  favorite  Revolutionary  hero.  So  continual 
were  these  interruptions  that  she  was  driven  at  length  to  obtain 
the  permission  of  the  Mother  Superior  absolutely  to  decline 
appearing  in  answer  to  such  calls,  except  when  they  were  made 
by  friends  of  former  days,  for  whom  she  still  preserved  and 
cherished  the  liveliest  affection."6 

The  married  life  of  Colonel  Lyon  was  a  happy  one.  Four 
children  were  born  to  him.  His  wife  lived  for  twelve  years 
after  her  marriage  to  him,  and  died  at  Arlington,  the  place  of 
residence  of  her  husband,  in  the  year  1782. 


a  Vermont  Historical  Gazetteer,  Vol.  I,  p.  135. 

&  Catholic  Memoirs  of  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire,  p.  22.     Bur 
lington:  1886. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS 

The  bereavement  was  a  severe  one.  Lyon,  with  strong 
family  affections  and  domestic  tastes,  became  a  widower  with 
four  motherless  little  children  to  maintain  and  educate.  But 
he  took  paternal  pride  in  the  duty,  and  had  the  comfort  and 
happiness  of  rearing  them  well,  and  of  seeing  them  develop  into 
fine  characters  and  ornaments  of  the  social  life  of  the  com 
munity.  He  was  becoming  wealthy  and  abundantly  able  to 
gratify  his  fondness  and  ambition  for  his  children. 

The  many  stirring  scenes  in  which  they  had  mingled,  and 
their  joint  work  of  crushing  out  Toryism  at  Arlington,  which 
before  had  been  the  British  stronghold  in  Vermont,  brought 
Governor  Thomas  Chittenden  and  Matthew  Lyon  into  habits 
of  intimacy  and  devoted  personal  friendship.  The  Colonel 
was  always  a  welcome  guest  at  the  fireside  of  the  Governor. 
The  destinies  of  Vermont  at  that  day  were  largely  controlled 
by  these  two  remarkable  men.  Indeed,  their  operations  and 
success  in  propagating  American  ideas  and  American  senti 
ments  of  loyalty  in  this  seat  of  rank  Toryism  proved  the  pivotal 
or  turning  point  in  shaping  the  future  policy  of  the  Green 
Mountain  State.  It  was  a  stern  struggle,  the  work  constant 
and  engrossing.  Relief  and  relaxation  came  in  the  evening  in 
the  home  circle  of  the  Governor,  where  cares  of  State  gave 
place  to  the  charms  of  female  society,  and  the  merry  music  of 
wheel  and  distaff  in  that  age  of  Homespun  made  the  hearth 
stone  of  domesticity  peculiarly  cheerful  and  soothing.  Clever 
sons  and  comely  daughters  to  the  number  of  eleven  were  the 
legacy  or  jewels  of  the  Governor. 

General  Isaac  Clark,  known  as  "  Old  Rifle,"  a  brave  soldier 
of  two  wars,  became  the  husband  of  Hannah  Chittenden  in  the 
year  1779.  Her  own  father  performed  the  ceremony,  and  gave 


194  MATTHEW   LYON 

his  daughter's  hand  to  the  man  who  had  won  her  heart.  "  Old 
Rifle  "  was  town  clerk  of  Ira,  Rutland  County,  and  those  cu 
rious  in  turning  over  ancient  memorials  may  still  find  this  item 
in  the  record  book  of  the  town : 

"  Ira,  5th  September,  1779.  Then  recorded  the  marriage  of 
Isaac  Clark  and  Hannah  Chittenden  on  the  i8th  day  of  Jan 
uary,  1779:  Married  by  Governor  Chittenden  and  recorded  by 
Isaac  Clark,  town  Clerk."0 

Beulah,  the  fourth  daughter  of  the  Governor,  is  described  in 
contemporary  chronicles  as  a  very  intelligent  and  pretty  young 
lady,  who,  at  the  age  of  sweet  sixteen,  became  the  wife  of 
George  Galusha,  son  of  a  future  Governor  of  the  State.  Young 
Galusha  lived  but  a  year  or  two,  and  Madame  Beulah  had  put 
on  the  weeds  of  widowhood  at  about  the  very  time  Colonel 
Lyon  became  a  widower.  He  was  a  little  past  thirty,  she 
scarcely  twenty  years  of  age.  Is  it  strange  that  the  two  young 
people  sympathized  with  each  other  in  their  mutual  bereave 
ment — any  wonder  that  pity  in  a  short  time  melted  into  love, 
and  in  a  year  more  another  marriage  assuaged  grief  of  widow 
and  widower,  and  made  Matthew  Lyon  and  Beulah  Galusha  the 
happiest  young  couple  in  the  town  of  Arlington?  I  have  not 
had  the  opportunity  to  examine  the  old  Arlington  records  and 
find  out  whether  the  father  of  the  bride,  as  in  likelihood  he  did, 
again  performed  the  marriage  ceremony,  tied  the  knot,  and 
gave  away  the  hand  of  his  daughter  to  her  liege  lord.  But 
this  is  known.  No  more  devoted  couple  ever  entered  into  the 
holy  state  of  matrimony  at  Arlington  than  Matthew  Lyon  and 
the  daughter  of  Governor  Chittenden.  A  large  and  interest 
ing  family  of  sons  and  daughters,  a,  quiver  full,  blessed  their 

<»  Vermont  Historical  Gazeteer,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  779. 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  195 

long  union  of  nearly  forty  years  duration,  during  the  course 
of  which,  with  admirable  spirit  and  cheerfulness,  the  wife  went 
about  her  duties,  and  the  husband,  as  we1  are  told  by  the 
learned  antiquarians  White  and  Walton,  became  one  of  the 
most  successful  business  men  and  political  leaders  in  Vermont, 
and,  as  we  are  further  told  by  the  distinguished  historian  Col 
lins,  "  the  most  remarkable  character  among  the  public  men  of 
southwestern  Kentucky/'0  'Matthew  Lyon,  next  to  Alexander 
Hamilton,  was  the  most  powerful  antagonist  of  one  President, 
John  Adams,  who  put  him  in  a  dungeon;  and  he  also  became 
the  most  serviceable  friend  of  another  President,  Thomas  Jef 
ferson,  by  casting  the  vote  that  elected  him. 

Colonel  Lyon  was  returned  to  the  Assembly  four  times  dur 
ing  his  residence  in  Arlington,  becoming  well  known  as  an 
effective  and  eloquent  debater  and  practical  man  of  affairs. 
The  records  show  that  he  was  selected  to  serve  on  the  leading 
committees  of  the  Legislature.  He  also  held  during  his  resi 
dence  at  Arlington  the  positions  of  Deputy  Secretary  of  the 
Council,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  War,  and  other  offices  of 
importance. 

He  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  the  town  of  Fair  Haven 
when  its  charter  was  obtained  from  the  Legislature,  and  hav 
ing  already  bought  several  valuable  tracts  along  Poultney 
river  Colonel  Lyon  removed  from  Arlington  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  year  1783  and  established  his  home  in  the  new  settle 
ment,  becoming  the  founder  and  father  of  the  town.6  Fair 
Haven  was  originally  known  on  account  of  the  mills,  the  facto 
ries  and  the  furnaces  he  established  there  as  "  Lyon's  Works."0 

o  Collins's  History  of  Kentucky,  Vol.  II,  p.  491. 
*  Adams's  History  of  Fair  Haven,  p.  190. 
c  Ibid,  p.  62. 


196  MATTHEW  LYON 

We  have  the  testimony  of  an  eye  witness  to  his  advent  at  Fair 
Haven,  one  who  beheld  the  white  canvas  emigrant  train  of 
the  pioneer  as  it  wound  along  and  forded  the  river  to  its  desti 
nation.  "  It  was  in  1783,"  I  quote  from  Miss  Gilbert's  "Rem 
iniscences  of  Fair  Haven,"  "  that  a  little  girl  stood  on  the  bank 
of  Poultney  river  watching  some  loaded  teams  ford  the  stream. 
That  girl  was  Sally  Benjamin,  who  lived  until  a  few  years  since. 
The  wagons  contained  Colonel  Lyon  with  his  family  and 
goods,  on  their  way  to  found  the  town  of  Fair  Haven,  of  which 
he  was  one  of  the  proprietor s."a 

It  would  have  filled  old  Jabez  Bacon  with  delight  to  have 
beheld  his  Ancient  Woodbury  apprentice  all  aglow  with  Yan 
kee  enterprise,  laying  the  foundations  of  a  town  and  renewing 
the  face  of  the  earth  on  Poultney  river.  Colonel  Lyon  used 
the  streams  for  mills  and  factories,  and  the  forests  for  the 
manufacture  of  basswood  paper;  the  first  record  of  such  an 
invention  the  writer  has  found  in  the  history  of  those  times. 
The  broken  mortars  and  cannon  and  small  arms  about  Ticon- 
deroga,  and  on  many  a  historic  field  of  fight  in  the  Revolution 
were  beaten  literally  into  plough  shares,  and  licked  into  new 
shapes  for  agricultural  purposes  in  the  blazing  furnace  blasts 
along  Poultney  river.  The  redemptioner  who  was  not 
ashamed  of  "  the  two  bulls  that  redeemed  him  "  was  fashioning 
the  broken  implements  of  war  into  bar  iron,  nails,  hoes,  spades, 
shovels  and  tradesmen's  tools,  like  another  Mulciber  at  work 
among  his  mechanical  arts.  He  reclaimed  the  wilds  of  nature, 
and  made  the  place  the  abode  of  a  thriving  settlement  of  Green 
Mountain  Boys.  President  Timothy  Dwight,  as  we  have  seen 

a  Rutland  County  Centennial  Celebration.  R.  Co.  Hist.  Soc.  1882. 
Vol.  I,  p.  146. 


THE   HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  197 

in  a  former  chapter,  found  little  to  please  him  in  this  part  of 
Vermont  until  he  reached  the  village  of  Fair  Haven,  and  he 
there  paused  to  admire  Lyon's  Works.  The  graphic  Dr.  J.  A. 
Graham,  in  his  "  Sketch  of  Vermont/'  was  full  of  commenda 
tions  of  the  intrepid  pioneer  who  built  up  this  flourishing  town. 
jThe  editor  of  the  "  Records  of  Governor  and  Council,"  the 
Hon.  E.  P.  Walton,  was  equally  emphatic  in  appreciation  of 
Matthew  Lyon's  extraordinary  business  capacity.  Even  the 
last  man  in  the  world  from  whom  to  expect  it,  Henry  B.  Daw- 
son,  in  the  New  York  "  Historical  Magazine,"  finds  room  for 
praise. 

"  Fair  Haven  is  generally  a  rough,  disagreeable  township," 
says  President  Dwight.  "  The  only  exception  to  this  remark, 
within  our  view,  was  on  its  southern  limit,  along  Poultney 
river,  where  there  is  a  small  tract  of  handsome  in 
tervals.  The  only  cheerful  object  which  met  our  view  before 
we  reached  the  river  was  a  collection  of  very  busy  mills  and 
other  water  works."0  These  were  in  the  town  founded  by 
Matthew  Lyon. 

"  Fair  Haven,"  says  Dr.  Graham,  "  joins  on  Skeensborough, 
and  is  the  most  flourishing  town  in  the  State.  It  owes  its  con 
sequence  to  its  founder,  Colonel  Lyon,  whose  enterprise  and 
perseverance  in  carrying  on  manufactories  have  been  of  infinite 
utility  to  the  public,  to  the  gratitude  of  which  he  has  the 
strongest  claims.  He  has  erected  a  furnace  for  casting  all 
kinds  of  hollow  ironware,  and  two  forges,  a  slitting  mill  for  the 
making  of  nail-rods,  a  paper  mill,  a  printing-  press,  and  corn 
and  saw  mills.  *  *  *  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Colonel  Lyon 
has  executed  a  good  deal  of  printing  at  his  office,  on  paper 
Dwight's  Travels  in  New  England  and  New  York,  II,  455. 


198  MATTHEW   LYON 

manufactured  by  himself  of  the  bark  of  the  basswood  tree,  and 
which  is  found  to  answer  every  purpose  for  common  printing. 
He  has  held  some  of  the  first  offices  in  the  State,  and  no  man 
in  it  can  be  found  more  qualified  to  do  so,  as  his  knowledge  of 
the  finances  and  situation  of  the  country  is  scarcely  to  be 
equalled ;  nor  does  his  integrity  ever  suffer  him  to  lose  sight  of 
the  real  good  of  the  people.  *  *  *  His  friendship  and 
generosity  are  as  great  as  his  ambition.  *  *  *  His  pas 
sions  and  all  his  pursuits  flow  from  the  noblest  feelings  of  the 
heart;  they  are  all  exerted  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  and  not 
only  endear  him  to  my  esteem,  but  secure  to  him  the  respect 
and  affection  of  all  those  who  are  happy  in  his  acquaintance, 
or  who  have  a  knowledge  of  his  character."* 

"  Matthew  Lyon,"  says  the  discriminating  Mr.  E.  P.  Wal 
ton,  "  deserves  to  be  ranked  among  the  remarkable  men  of 
Vermont.  *  *  *  He  was  a  terse  and  vigorous  writer  and 
able  debater.  *  *  *  However  valuable  to  the  State  the 
services  of  Matthew  Lyon  may  have  been  in  the  many  public 
offices  he  filled,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  his  influence  as  an 
enterprising  and  energetic  business  man  was  not  even  more 
valuable.  He  was  daring  in  his  enterprises,  and  had  he  either 
neglected  politics  and  given  his  intellect  and  skill  to  business, 
or  given  less  attention  to  business  and  more  to  culture  in  law 
and  statesmanship,  he  might  have  been  an  eminently  success 
ful  man.  *  *  *  He  was  on  the  whole  probably  more  use 
ful  to  the  public  than  to  himself."* 

The  "Historical  Magazine,"  of  New  York,  generally  so 
spiteful  when  Vermont  or  Vermonters  was  the  subject  of  re 
ft  Dr.  John    A.   Graham's  "Sketch  of    Vermont."     An    interesting 
book,  dedicated  to  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  a  cousin  of  its  author. 
&  Records  of  Governor  and  Council,  I,  123  et  seq. 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  199 

mark,  quoted  with  approval  from  the  "  Salem  Gazette  "  the 
following  notice  of  Matthew  Lyon : 

"  Basswood  paper.  Several  papers  refer  to  this  article  as  a 
recent  invention.  It  is  not  so.  As  early  as  1796  a  newspaper 
prepared  from  basswood  was  printed  in  Vermont  by  the  cele 
brated  Matthew  Lyon,  bearing  the  title  of  '  The  Scourge  of 
Aristocracy  and  Repository  of  Important  Political  Truth.'  It 
was  in  this  paper  that  Lyon  published  the  libel  for  which  he 
was  tried  and  convicted  under  the  famous  Sedition  Law."a 
There  are  two  or  three  inaccuracies  in  this  article,  but  the  re 
mark  on  the  invention  of  basswood  paper  by  Lyon  is  pertinent 
and  curious. 

The  newspaper  referred  to  was  not  established  until  1798, 
and  the  letter  of  Lyon  upon  which  he  was  convicted  of  sedition 
by  his  political  enemies  was  published  in  the  "  Windsor  Jour 
nal,"  an  unfriendly  paper,  and  not  in  the  "  Scourge  of  Aristoc 
racy,"  a  friendly  one.  Fortunes  in  wood  pulp  have  been  made 
in  our  own  age,  and  ex-Senator  Warner  Miller,  of  New  York, 
once  bore  the  nickname  of  "  Wood  Pulp  Miller."  But  old 
Colonel  Lyon,  in  the  forests  of  primitive  Vermont,  was  the 
real  inventor  in  the  last  century  of  the  process  for  making 
paper  from  basswood. 

At  this  point  in  the  career  of  Lyon,  I  am  for  a  moment 
tempted  to  pause.  It  was  here  in  the  town  of  Fair  Haven, 
which  he  founded,  that  the  remarkable  character  of  the  man 
was  brought  into  full  play,  his  best  traits  were  developed,  and 
his  indomitable  energy  was  concentrated  in  useful  schemes  for 
the  State  of  his  adoption.  Here  he  evinced  unselfish  zeal  for 
the  public  good;  here  he  built  up  numerous  works  of  internal 
o  Historical  Magazine  and  Notes  and  Queries,  Nov.  1867,  p.  308. 


200  MATTHEW  LYON 

improvement;  here  showed  heroic  attachment  to  the  cause  of 
State  Rights;  here  proclaimed  and  enforced  persistently  and 
inflexibly  the  rights  of  the  common  people  against  arbitrary 
power.  Fleeing  from  king-tainted  Europe,  he  had  ever  been 
a  Democrat  from  his  childhood  in  Wicklow,  where  he  con 
secrated  himself  to  freedom  in  the  blood  of  a  murdered  father; 
at  the  Dublin  printing  case,  where  perhaps  Charles  Lucas  ut 
tered  the  same  battle  cry  for  man;  in  Connecticut,  where  he 
joined  the  Sons  of  Liberty  against  the  Stamp  Act.  His  loath 
ing  of  monarchy  and  all  arbitrary  and  centralized  power  was 
inbred  and  almost  fanatical.  As  a  Green  Mountain  Boy,  mem 
ber  of  the  old  Council  of  Safety  of  Vermont,  in  the  ranks  of; 
Warner  and  Stark  at  Bennington,  and  in  the  Continental  army 
at  Saratoga,  where  tyranny  received  an  almost  fatal  blow,  Mat 
thew  Lyon  had  become  a  champion  of  American  Democracy, 
a  people's  man  as  distinguished  from  an  aristocrat,  a  disciple  of 
the  school  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  his  political  idol.  What  Lyon 
believed,  that  he  was  pretty  sure  to  practice.  He  was  aston 
ished  to  see  Tories  growing  in  influence  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  with  the  Federalists  led  by  Hamilton  affecting  English 
forms  and  precedents,  and  only  waiting,  though  most  happily 
waiting  in  vain,  for  Washington  to  nod  assent  in  order  to  clap 
a  crown  upon  his  head. 

Thus  Matthew  Lyon  became  a  Democrat  of  Democrats, 
and  regarding  the  Federalists  as  thinly  disguised  Tories,  he 
waged  ceaseless  warfare  against  them.  As  Jefferson  stripped 
for  the  fight  in  Virginia,  grappled  with  primogeniture,  the  tithe- 
gatherers  of  the  Established  Church  and  the  enemies  of  re 
ligious  liberty,  so  Lyon  sprang  into  the  breach  in  Vermont  in 
the  same  fight,  defeated  the  Federalists  after  a  prolonged  bat- 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  2OI 

tie,  and  became  the  pioneer  Democrat  of  New  England. 
While  forgiveness  is  wise  and  magnanimous  in  governments, 
and  even  English  loyalists  were  included  in  the  scope  of  Ameri 
can  amnesty  for  the  past,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  many 
strong  Tories,  stout  Britons  in  all  but  the  name,  sought  citi 
zenship  after  the  Revolution  and  enrolled  themselves  as  mem 
bers  of  the  Federal  party.  The  tone  and  complexion  which 
they  gave  to  that  party  led  finally  to  its  downfall  and  extinc 
tion  after  the  war  of  1812.  Naturally  the  great  apostle  of  the 
opposite  school  of  Republicanism  became  the  object  of  their 
most  bitter  attacks.  Scrape  a  Federalist,  and  if  you  should 
not  find  a  Tory,  his  distinguishing  mark  was  very  apt  to  be 
antipathy  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  in  Vermont  to  Matthew 
Lyon.  But  Thomas  Jefferson  was  rather  helped  than  impeded 
by  this  aversion.  Considering  its  source  it  was  quite  logical, 
and  viewing  its  effects  very  beneficial  to  the  object  of  its  en 
mity.  Patriotic  Americans  rallied  to  his  standards  everywhere, 
the  more  the  Federalists  abused  the  author  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  That  celebrated  statesman,  Daniel  Webster, 
visited  the  Sage  of  Monticello  shortly  before  the  latter's  death, 
and  afterwards  declared  to  Peter  Harvey  that  no  other  Ameri 
can  had  exerted  so  large  an  influence  as  Jefferson  over  the 
people  and  destinies  of  the  United  States. 

The  number  of  Tories  who  became  citizens  after  the  Revolu 
tion  was  unexpectedly  large.  There  were  immense  numbers 
of  them,  as  Sabine's  "  American  Loyalists  "  reveals  to  us.  The 
late  Henry  Ward  Beecher  once  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  the 
best  blood  in  America  coursed  in  their  veins,  and  strangely 
enough  he  took  occasion  to  say  it  in  1883,  at  the  centennial 
celebration  of  the  evacuation  of  the  city  of  New  York  by  the 


202  MATTHEW  LYON 

British,  when  people  were  in  the  humor  rather  for  American 
than  English  buncombe. 

Between  Lyon  and  the  Tories  or  Federalists  there  was  im 
placable  hostility.  At  him  they  hurled  shafts  of  malice,  ridi 
cule  and  opprobrium ;  at  them  he  levelled  barbed  arrows  of  de 
nunciation  and  scornfully  fierce  invective.  Indeed  the  charac 
ter  of  Lyon  is  a  study.  His  convictions  ran  clear  to  the  bot 
tom  of  subjects,  and  nothing  he  said  or  did  was  commonplace. 
Like  his  antagonist,  old  John  Adams  of  Braintree,  a  fighting 
doctrinaire  in  council,  and  like  John  Stark  at  Bennington,  a 
Celtic  thunderbolt  in  war,  he  never  appeared  dimly  in  any 
of  the  transactions  of  his  day,  but  always  a  clear  cut  substan 
tiality  in  every  line  and  lineament ;  never  turgid,  never  a  Grad- 
grind,  but  always  in  bold  relief,  a  tribune  of  the  people. 

No  one  can  read  the  very  full  "  History  of  Fair  Haven,"  by 
Mr.  C.  N.  Adams,  without  being  impressed  with  the  business 
ability  and  public  spirit  of  Matthew  Lyon.  Evidently  he  is 
not  a  favorite  of  that  painstaking  and  industrious  chronicler, 
but  in  Mr.  Adams's  dry  details  of  names  of  settlers,  whence 
they  came,  who  they  were,  how  much  land  they  purchased, 
their  avocations  and  the  like,  through  the  whole  long  account 
of  the  people  of  Fair  Haven  and  their  doings  in  the  olden  day, 
the  presence  of  Matthew  Lyon  is  felt  and  seen  as  that  of  the 
central  figure  of  a  history  not  written  to  celebrate  his  exploits, 
or  with  any  partiality  or  leanings  towards  him  personally. 
That  he  was  a  man  of  action,  with  a  power  to  lead  others,  the 
highest  gift  of  Heaven  to  man,  as  John  Randolph  once  said,  is 
demonstrated  by  Mr.  Adams,  even  though  that  writer  has  not 
a  particle  of  coloring  in  his  book,  but  confines  it  to  dry  statis 
tics,  local  happenings,  and  names,  dates  and  land  titles,  of  in- 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  203 

terest  solely  to  the  people  of  the  town.  There  Lyon  was  coun 
seling,  constructing  and  taking  the  initiative  among  his  neigh 
bors;  choosing  business  sites  which,  after  a  century  are  busi 
ness  sites  still,  filling  the  place  with  diversified  industries,  in  a 
word  he  was  the  founder  and  father  of  the  town.  Mr.  Adams 
chronicles  the  names  of  some  notable  Vermonters  who  were 
natives  of  the  place ;  many  well-known  and  some  distinguished 
men  have  lived  there;  but  the  pioneer  who  first  came  and  laid  it 
out  is  still  after  more  than  a  hundred  years  the  most  conspicu 
ous  and  remarkable  personality  in  the  history  of  Fair  Haven. 
Those  who  knew  him  best  liked  him  most;  no  office  was  too 
high  for  their  favorite;  no  man  in  their  opinion  so  well  fitted 
to  fill  it  as  Matthew  Lyon. 

At  the  first  election  of  a  United  States  Senator  by  the  Legis 
lature,  in  1791,  the  name  of  Colonel  Lyon  appears  among  the 
favorites  of  the  people  for  that  office.  The  following  extract 
from  "  Records  of  Governor  and  Council,"  refers  to  the  sena 
torial  election : 

"  In  Council,  Monday, 
"Windsor,  17  October,  1791 

"  Resolved  to  join  the  House  in  Grand  Committee  at  2  o'clock, 
P.  M.  for  the  purpose  of  Electing  Senators  agreeable  to  the  order 
of  Saturday.  *  *  *  The  Governor  and  Council  joined  accordingly 
and  compared  the  nomination,  when  the  Honorable  Moses  Robinson 
and  Stephen  R.  Bradley,  was  declared  to  be  duly  Elected  Senators 
to  Represent  this  State  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States." 

"  Neither  the  official  records  nor  the  Vermont  newspapers 
give  the  names  of  the  unsuccessful  candidates;  and  the  only 
clue  discovered  is  a  copy  in  the  '  Vermont  Journal '  of  Octo 
ber  1 8,  1791,  of  a  humorous  handbill  which  was  posted  in 


204  MATTHEW  LYON 

Windsor  on  the  day  preceding  the  election.    ft  characterized 
the  election  as  '  Federal  Racing,'  and  described  the  racers  thus: 

"  EASTERN  RACERS. 

'  The  Past-Time—Stephen  R.  Bradley. 

*  Peacock — Possibly  Elijah  Paine. 

'  Pretty  Town  Horse— Old  Roger  Enos. 
'  Narragansett  Pacer— Jonathan  Arnold. 
'  Connecticut  Blue — Nathaniel  Niles. 

"WESTERN  RACERS. 

*  The  Old  Script— Moses  Robinson. 
'  Jersey  Sleek— Isaac  Tichenor. 

'  Figure,  Bold  Sweeper— Probably  Matthew  Lyon. 

*  Northern  Ranger— Probably  Samuel  Hitchcock/  "« 

At  the  first,  second,  third  and  fourth  Congressional  elections 
in  Vermont,  the  friends  of  Matthew  Lyon  supported  him  en 
thusiastically  for  that  office.  Although  defeated  three  times 
in  a  close  poll,  the  Colonel  was  not  discouraged,  but  was  more 
determined  after  each  defeat  to  carry  the  banner  of  Democracy 
to  victory.  It  was  this  grit  and  unconquerable  purpose  that 
drew  from  Rev.  Pliny  H.  White  the  following  remarks  in  his 
Lyon  address: 

"  The  distinguishing  traits  in  Matthew  Lyon's  character  were 
boldness,  energy,  perseverance  and  a  resolute  will.  No  under 
taking  was  too  hazardous  for  him  to  enter  upon,  no  obstacle 
too  great  for  him  to  encounter,  no  delay  long  enough  to  weary 
him  out.  From  every  defeat  he  rose  like  Antaeus  from  mother 
earth,  strengthened  for  another  trial.  Once  having  fixed  his 
eye  upon  an  object  to  be  acquired,  he  never  lost  sight  of  it. 
The  prize  at  which  he  aimed  might  repeatedly  elude  his  grasp, 
but  he  pursued  it  none  the  less  steadily  and  persistently. "^ 

0  Vermont  Governor  and  Council,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  5  and  6. 
&  Rev.  P.  H.  White's  Address  on  Matthew  Lyon,  p,  2& 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  20$ 

At  the  Presidential  and  Congressional  elections  of  1796, 
when  Adams  and  Jefferson  were  elected  President  and  Vice- 
President,  Matthew  Lyon  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the 
Western  part  of  Vermont,  the  State  being  entitled  to  two  mem 
bers,  one  from  the  West,  the  other  from  the  East,  and  he 
repaired  to  Philadelphia,  then  temporary  seat  of  the  Federal 
Government,  to  enter  upon  his  new  field  of  duties  in  the  month 
of  May,  1797. 

The  town  of  Fair  Haven  was  organized  August  28,  1783, 
whether  immediately  preceding  or  after  Colonel  Lyon  located 
his  family  in  the  place  is  not  clear.  He  was  himself  no  doubt 
on  the  spot,  as  he  at  once  took  the  leading  part  in  affairs,  and 
all  looked  up  to  him  as  their  directing  spirit.  He  built  a  forge, 
a  gristmill,  a  papermill  and  sawmill,  and  became  an  extensive 
manufacturer  in  iron  as  well  as  in  paper  and  lumber.  At 
heavy  cost  and  with  great  labor  he  transported  the  requisite 
machinery  from  Lenox,  Massachusetts.  He  was  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  business  of  ship  building.  In  a  letter  to 
President  Monroe  many  years  later,  June  7,  1817,  he  said: 
"  I  have  built  many  sea  vessels  on  my  own  account,  for  which  I 
have  searched  and  selected  the  timber.  The  construction  of 
ships  has  been  a  subject  on  which  I  have  read  much  and 
thought  much.  I  have  conversed  with  ship  'builders,  ship 
owners,  and  timber  getters.  I  for  many  years  followed  getting 
ship  timber  on  Lake  Champlain  for  the  London  market." 

So  sound  was  his  business  judgment  and  particularly  his 
knowledge  of  the  proper  sites  for  his  various  branches  of  trade, 
that  Rev.  Mr.  White,  the  Vermont  antiquarian,  in  his  address 
before  the  Historical  Society  of  that  State,  declared  that  they 
were  used  for  sunilar  purposes  in  1858,  seventy  odd  years  after 


2O6  MATTHEW  LYON 

Lyon  had  selected  them.  Later  on  he  started  a  printing  office 
in  his  papermill,  and  commenced  in  1793  the  "  Farmer's 
Library,"  a  small  sized  newspaper,  the  editorial  management 
being  divided  between  himself  and  his  son  James,  the  printer, 
Mr.  Spooner,  supplying  local  articles.  At  the  time  this  paper 
was  established  there  were  but  three  other  papers  in  the  State, 
the  Bennington  "  Gazette,"  the  Windsor  "  Journal "  and 
the  Rutland  "  Herald."  Colonel  Lyon  continued  his  paper  for 
three  or  four  years,  changing  its  name  to  the  Fair  Haven 
"  Gazette."  His  object  was  not  to  make  money,  the  sparse 
population  rendering  a  large  circulation  and  remunerative  ad- 
vertizers  out  of  the  question.  Indeed  he  conducted  it  as  a 
losing  business  throughout.  But  so  marked  was  the  spread  of 
Federalism  or  Toryism  to  the  eastward  that  Colonel  Lyon  was 
willing  to  lose  money  rather  than  that  the  people  should  be 
deprived  of  an  organ  of  those  doctrines  and  sentiments  which 
had  been  so  popular  in  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  and  without 
which  that  momentous  conflict  could  not  have  been  main 
tained.  The  "  Gazette  "  accomplished  its  purpose  and  kept 
the  people  in  line  with  the  sound  Republicanism  of  '76.  Not 
content  with  giving  them  a  lively  newspaper,  the  Colonel 
sought  to  cultivate  among  the  early  settlers  a  wholesome  taste 
for  literature  and  useful  knowledge.  He  issued  a  number  of 
books  from  his  press,  and  in  the  list  I  find  a  "  Life  of  Ben 
jamin  Franklin,"  and  a  novel  called  "  Alphonso  and  Dalinda." 
After  he  left  Fair  Haven  fifty-six  years  elapsed  before  another 
book  was  issued  in  the  town.  During  an  exciting  political 
contest  in  his  district  in  1798,  when  he  was  again  running  for 
Congress,  he  sent  some  communications  to  the  Rutland 
"  Herald,"  but  the  editor,  Dr.  Samuel  .Williams,  refused  them  a 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  2O? 

place  in  his  columns.  Colonel  Lyon  would  not  be  muzzled, 
and  forthwith  began  a  semi-monthly  magazine  in  Fair  Haven, 
bearing  the  defiant  and  sounding  name  of  "  The  Scourge  of 
Aristocracy  and  Repository  of  Important  Political  Truth." 
The  first  number  was  issued  October  i,  1798,  and  the  subscrip 
tion  price  was  $3  per  annum.  It  was  published  for 
one  year.  "  It  was  a  duodecimo,"  says  Mr.  White,  "  of  thirty- 
six  pages,  nominally  edited  and  published  by  James  Lyon,  but 
containing  much  from  the  pen  of  the  Colonel  himself." 

It  was  to  the  "  Scourge  of  Aristocracy  "  that  Lyon's  indict 
ment  under  the  Sedition  Law  was  really  due  and  may  be  plainly 
traced.  The  first  number  of  the  "  Scourge"  appeared  on  the 
first  of  October,  1798,  and  four  days  after,  October  the  5th, 
1798,  he  was  indicted.  He  was  too  prudent  to  leave  a  loop 
hole  in  his  articles  in  that  paper  for  the  Federalists  to  stick  a 
peg  there  and  hang  a  prosecution  on  it  against  him.  But  loop 
holes  and  pegs  are  not  necessary  for  men  bent  on  mischief  with 
arbitrary  power  in  their  hands.  The  "  Scourge  "  made  the  fur 
fly  in  other  directions,  and  also  made  his  enemies  still  more 
astute  to  catch  him.  Fourteen  days  before  the  Sedition  Act 
passed  Congress  Lyon  wrote  a  letter  to  an  individual  in 
Vermont,  criticising  John  Adams  in  terms  which  are  mildness 
itself  contrasted  with  the  slashing  criticisms  of  our  Presidents 
by  latter-day  editors.  The  emissaries  of  John  Adams  hunted 
up  this  letter  and  published  it  in  the  Vermont  or  Windsor 
"  Journal  "  after  the  passage  of  the  act,  and  by  that  ex  post  facto 
trick  circumvented  Lyon,  and  with  their  Alien  and  Sedition 
net  landed  him  safe  in  prison.  The  "  Scourge  of  Aristocracy  " 
therefore  played  an  important  part  in  an  historic  drama,  in 
the  first  act  of  which  John  Adams  plucked  Matthew  Lyon  out 


208  MATTHEW   LYON 

of  his  seat  in  Congress,  and  sent  him  in  exile  to  Vergennes 
jail;  in  the  second  act  of  which  Lyon  in  his  turn,  while  still  a 
prisoner  of  State,  plucked  John  Adams  out  of  his  seat  in  the 
Presidential  chair,  sent  him  in  exile  to  Braintree,  and  won 
back  his  own  seat  in  the  House.  Lyon's  letter  and  quota 
tions  from  Joel  Barlow  furnished  the  loophole,  the  "  Scourge 
of  Aristocracy  "  supplied  the  peg,  and  the  liberty  of  the  press 
became  the  real  issue.  Matthew  Lyon  killed  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  laws  as  dead  as  Marley,  and  John  Adams  was  "  hoist 
with  his  own  petar." 

At  the  sale  of  the  great  Brinley  library  in  New  York  in 
1878,  a  bound  volume  of  "  The  Scourge  of  Aristocracy  "  was 
sold,  and  the  present  writer  was  a  competitor  with  Yale  Col 
lege  for  its  purchase.  I  bid  $12.50  for  it,  but  the  College, 
which  was  a  five  thousand  dollars  legatee  of  Mr.  Brinley,  to  be 
applied  in  the  purchase  of  books  in  his  vast  library,  bid  $1275, 
and  carried  off  the  "  Scourge."  That  copy  is  now  in  the 
library  of  Yale  College.  Another  copy  is  in  the  Vermont 
State  library. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  209 


CHAPTER   V. 

BROW  BEATINGS  AND  INSULTS  —  AFFLICTING  PERSECUTIONS 
AND  PERSONAL  INDIGNITIES  —  MONARCHIE  MASQUE  —  LYON 
ENTERS  CONGRESS  —  CHIPMAN's  LITTLE  STORIES  PRECIPITATE 
THE  LYON-GRISWOLD  FIGHT  —  CONGRESS  A  BEAR  GARDEN  — 
ITS  GLADIATORIAL  RECORD  FOR  A  CENTURY. 


«  *"PHE  insolent  vices  of  prosperity,"  according  to  Gibbon, 
were  among  the  chief  causes  which  laid  the  Roman 
Empire  in  the  dust.  During  the  second  administration  of 
Washington  the  Federalists  gained  complete  ascendency  in 
Congress,  and  by  the  time  Adams  succeeded  to  the  Presidency 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  day  were  aristocratic,  exclu 
sive  and  rapidly  tending  to  haughty  feudal  castes  in  American 
society.  "  Pride,"  says  the  good  Book,  "  goeth  before  de 
struction." 

In  the  Anas,a  Mr.  Jefferson  calls  attention  to  the  growing 
preference  of  the  Federalists  for  monarchy: 

"  December  26,  1797.  Harper  lately  in  a  large  company 
was  saying  that  the  best  thing  the  friends  of  the  French  could 
do,  was  to  pray  for  the  restoration  of  their  monarch.  '  Then/ 
says  a  bystander,  '  the  best  thing  we  could  do,  I  suppose, 
would  be  to  pray  for  the  establishment  of  a  monarch  in  the 
United  States/  '  Our  people/  says  Harper,  '  are  not  yet  ripe 
for  it,  but  it  is  the  best  thing  we  can  come  to,  and  we  shall 
come  to  it/  Something  like  this  was  said  in  the  presence  of 

«  "  Jefferson's  Works,"  IX,  187. 


2IO  MATTHEW  LYON 

Findlay.  He  now  denies  it  in  the  public  papers,  though  it 
can  be  proved  by  several  members." 

Under  Adams  this  spirit  grew  apace,  and  matters  rapidly 
tended  from  bad  to  worse.  It  was  the  Monarchic  Masque,  ac 
cording  to  Professor  George  Tucker. 

The  ladies  of  the  new  dynasty  of  Snobbium  Gatherum  out 
stripped  their  husbands  as  apists  of  English  aristocracy.  In 
a  letter  to  his  wife  Mr.  Gallatin  draws  to  the  life  an  under  study 
of  Mrs.  Abigail  Adams,  the  lady  of  the  President.  "  Phila 
delphia,  i  Qth  June,  1797.  I  dine  next  Thursday  at  court. 
Courtland  dining  there  the  other  day,  heard  her  majesty,  as 
she  was  asking  the  names  of  the  different  members  of  Con 
gress  to  Hindman,  and  being  told  that  of  some  one  of  the 
aristocratic  party,  say,  'Ah,  that  is  one  of  our  people/  So 
that  she  is  Mrs.  President,  not  of  the  United  States,  but  of 
a  faction.  *  *  *  But  it  is  not  right.  Indeed,  my  beloved,  you 
are  infinitely  more  lovely  than  politics."  After  the  words  "  of  a 
faction,"  Mr.  Adams,  the  editor,  has  stars;  something  interest 
ing  is  left  out.  A  faithful  limner  should  copy  the  picture  bet 
ter.0 

When  Jefferson  was  about  to  withdraw  from  public  life  in 
1809,  a  farewell  address  recounting  his  services  was  presented 
to  him  by  his  friends.  One  of  those  services  was  omitted 
which  the  retiring  President  deemed  it  proper  to  mention,  as 
weightier  than  many  other  matters  thought  worthy  of  praise. 
"  There  is  one,  however,"  said  he,  "  not  therein  specified,  the 
most  important  in  its  consequences  of  any  transaction  in  any 
portion  of  my  life;  to  wit,  the  head  I  personally  made  against 
the  Federal  principles  and  proceedings  during  the  administra- 

o  "  Life  of  Albert  Gallatin,"  by  Henry  Adams,  p.  185. 


THE   HAMPDEN  OF   CONGRESS  211 

tion  of  Mr.  Adams.  Their  usurpations  and  violations  of  the 
Constitution  at  that  period,  and  their  majority  in  both  Houses 
of  Congress,  were  so  great,  so  decided  and  so  daring,  that 
after  combating  their  agressions  inch  by  inch  without  being 
able  in  the  least  to  check  their  career,  the  Republican  leaders 
thought  it  would  be  best  for  them  to  give  up  their  useless 
efforts  there,  go  home,  get  into  their  respective  Legislatures, 
embody  whatever  of  resistance  they  could  be  formed  into,  and, 
if  ineffectual,  to  perish  there  as  in  the  last  ditch.  All,  there 
fore,  retired,  leaving  Mr.  Gallatin  alone  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  and  myself  in  the  Senate,  where  I  then  presided  as 
Vice-President  Remaining  at  our  posts,  and  bidding  defiance 
to  the  brow-beatings  and  insults  by  which  they  endeavored 
to  drive  us  off  also,  we  kept  the  mass  of  Republicans  in 
phalanx  together,  until  the  Legislature  could  be  brought  up 
to  the  charge;  and  nothing  on  earth  is  more  certain  than  that 
if  myself  particularly,  placed  by  my  office  of  Vice-President 
at  the  head  of  the  Republicans,  had  given  way  and  withdrawn 
from  my  post,  the  Republicans  throughout  the  Union  would 
have  given  up  in  despair,  and  the  cause  would  have  been  lost 
forever. 

"  By  holding  on  we  obtained  time  for  the  Legislature  to 
come  up  with  their  weight;  and  those  of  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky  particularly,  but  more  especially  the  former,  by  their 
celebrated  resolutions,  saved  the  Constitution  at  its  last  gasp. 
No  person  who  was  not  a  witness  of  the  scenes  of  that  gloomy 
period  can  form  any  idea  of  the  afflicting  persecutions  and 
personal  indignities  we  had  to  brook.  They  saved  our  coun 
try,  however.  The  spirits  of  the  people  were  so  much  subdued 
and  reduced  to  despair  by  the  X  Y  Z  imposture,  and  other 


212  MATTHEW   LYON 

stratagems  and  machinations,  that  they  would  have  sunk  into 
apathy  and  monarchy,  as  the  only  form  of  government  which 
could  maintain  itself."0  . 

Among  the  stratagems  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  was  the 
billingsgate  of  William  Cobbett,  the  unrivalled  scold  of  Ameri 
can  politics.  "  Cobbettized  him,"  as  Sir  Jonah  Barrington,  al 
ways  happy  at  turning  phrases,  styled  slanderers,  for  Cobbett 
afterwards  figured  in  the  British  Parliament,  and  gloried  in  his 
chosen  name  of  Peter  Porcupine.  He  was  the  Federal  bull 
dog,  and  gnashed  at  Democrats  unmercifully.  No  sooner  had 
Col.  Matthew  Lyon  arrived  in  Philadelphia  to  take  his  seat 
in  Congress  in  the  spring  of  1797,  having  been  chosen  at  the 
last  election  by  the  people  of  Vermont  to  represent  them  in 
that  body,  than  the  following  cartoon  appeared  in  Porcupine's 

Gazette: 

"  TUESDAY,  6TH  JUNE. 

"  The  Lyon  of  Vermont.  To-morrow  at  eleven  o'clock 
will  be  exposed  to  public  view  the  Lyon  of  Vermont.  This 
singular  animal  is  said  to  have  been  caught  on  the  bog  of 
Hibernia,  and,  when  a  whelp,  transported  to  America;  curi 
osity  induced  a  New  Yorker  to  buy  him,  and  moving  into 
the  country,  afterwards  exchanged  him  for  a  yoke  of  young 
bulls  with  a  Vermontese.  He  was  petted  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Governor  Chittenden,  and  soon  became  so  domesticated, 
that  a  daughter  of  his  Excellency  would  stroke  him  and  play 
with  him  as  a  monkey.  He  differs  considerably  from  the 
African  lion,  is  much  more  clamorous  and  less  magnanimous. 
His  pelt  resembles  more  the  wolf  or  the  tiger,  and  his  gestures 
bear  a  remarkable  affinity  to  the  bear;  this,  however,  may  be 


<*  "  Jefferson's  Works,"  IX,  507-8. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  213 

ascribed  to  his  having  been  in  the  habit  of  associating  with 
that  species  of  wild  beast  on  the  mountain;  he  is  carnivorous, 
but  not  very  ferocious — has  never  been  detected  in  having 
attacked  a  man,  but  report  says  he  will  beat  women. 

"  He  was  brought  to  this  city  in  a  wagon,  and  has  several 
days  exposed  himself  to  the  public.  It  has  been  motioned  to 
cage  him — as  he  has  discovered  much  uneasiness  at  going 
with  the  crowd. 

"  (Note :  It  will  be  seen  in  the  proceedings  of  Congress, 
that  this  beast  asked  leave  to  be  excused  from  going  with  the 
rest  of  the  members  to  wait  on  the  President.)  Many  gentle 
men,  who  have  seen  him,  do  not  hesitate  to  declare,  they  think 
him  a  most  extraordianry  beast."a 

The  animus  of  this  elegant  extract  is  found  in  the  Note. 
Colonel  Lyon  opposed  the  courtly  custom  of  answering  the 
President's  speech  by  the  personal  attendance  of  every  mem 
ber  of  Congress  in  the  audience  room  of  the  Executive.  The 
whole  business  of  such  answers,  street  processions  and  soft 
speeches  of  mutual  admiration,  first  by  the  President  coming 
to  deliver  his  compliments  to  Congress,  and  next  of  the  Con 
gress  going  en  masse  to  deliver  their  compliments  to  the  Presi 
dent,  smacked  of  king,  lords  and  commons,  and  was  repugnant 
to  the  democratic  tastes  of  the  new  member  from  Vermont. 
No  longer  was  "  Mr.  Gallatin  alone  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,"  as  Jefferson  described  him.  He  had  received  a 
positive  ally  in  Matthew  Lyon.  Nor  was  Jefferson  himself 
any  longer  alone  in  the  Senate;  at  the  same  time  that  Lyon 
took  his  seat  in  the  House,  Andrew  Jackson,  an  unknown 
Democrat,  shortly  destined,  as  Pope  said  of  one  Johnson  of 

o  "Porcupine's  Works,"  VI,  16-17. 


214  MATTHEW   LYON 

Grubb  Street,  to  be  deterre,  was  sworn  in  as  the  new  Senator 
from  '1  ennessee.  It  was  not  a  great  while  before  Cobbett's  Por 
cupine  opened  its  broadsides  on  all  three  of  these  Democrats, 
Jefferson,  Jackson  and  Lyon.  I  subjoin  a  specimen  of  its 
pleasantries : 

"  Gimcrack's  Museum  is  now  opened  for  inspection,  where 
may  be  seen  the  following  curiosities:  Wax-work  Figures, 
Paintings  and  Menage  of  Beasts. 

"  I.  The  identical  wooden  sword  which  was  girded  on  the 
thigh  of  the  hero  of  Onion  River,  with  the  musical  notes 
which  accompanied  that  brave  man  in  his  triumphal  exit  from 
the  camp  at  Ticonderoga. 

"  2.  The  American  Orator ;  representing  a  member  of  Con 
gress  in  solemn  debate,  spitting  in  the  eye  of  his  opponent, 
to  clear  it  from  the  mist  of  prejudice. 

"  4.  The  Pismires  out  of  Office,  by  Monroe  and  T.  Coxe. 

"  5.  The  Political  Sinner,  from  the  Flemish  School,  by  A. 
Gallatin. 

"  7.  Hotspur,  by  Jackson. 

"  8.  The  Fox  at  Fault,  by  Thomas  Jefferson. 

"  9.  In  a  convenient  detached  room  may  be  seen  The  Ver 
mont  Lion;  the  greatest  beast  in  the  world. 

"Admittance  one  quarter  of  a  dollar  for  grown  persons — 
children  at  half  price."0 

It  must  be  confessed  that  Colonel  Lyon  was  here  in  good 
company,  pares  cum  paribus;  three  future  Presidents  of  the 
United  States. 

One  or  two  features  of  this  cabinet  of  curiosities  call  for  a 
word  of  explanation.  How  came  our  old  acquaintance,  the 

«"  Porcupine's  Works,"  VIII,  nS. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  21$ 

wooden  sword,  to  reach  Philadelphia  girded  on  the  member 
of  Congress,  whom  Mr.  Cobbett  represents  as  spitting  in  the 
eye  of  his  opponent  to  clear  it  from  the  mist  of  prejudice,  and 
how  came  it  to  be  brandished  so  publicly,  not  only  by  Porcu 
pine,  but  in  the  Halls  of  Congress?  Shabbily  enough,  indeed. 
Senator  Nathaniel  Chipman  dug  it  up  from  an  ancient  rubbish 
heap  in  Vermont,  where  in  a  former  chapter  the  reader  has 
already  seen  it  properly  buried  from  sight  with  proofs  of  its 
silly  mendacity  and  meanness.  For  uttering  similar  petty 
slanders  Senator  Chipman  was  once  chastised  long  years  before 
at  the  town  of  Westminster,  Vermont,  by  Col.  Matthew  Lyon. 
For  some  reason  Chipman  had  an  unaccountable  hatred  of 
Lyon.  He  had  unsuccessfully  tried  to  stab  his  reputation  by 
gathering  up  widely  separated  items  from  the  secret  documents 
of  the  commissioners  of  confiscation  in  the  old  evil  days  of  the 
Haldimand  intrigue,  and  demanding  that  Lyon  should  deliver 
up  the  books  in  which  the  story  of  that  intrigue  was  supposed 
to  be  contained.  We  have  seen  that  a  committee  of  which  he 
was  a  member  had  procured  Lyon  to  be  impeached  and  fined 
for  not  delivering  up  those  tell-tale  books,  and  we  have  also  seen 
how  Lyon  came  before  Chipman's  committee  and  put  his  foot 
on  the  insect  brood  of  slanders  which  the  latter  gentleman 
was  trying  to  propagate  against  him,  and  crushing  them  out 
forever.  There  was  some  motive  for  Chipman's  conduct. 
What  was  it?  The  only  one  which  I  can  conjecture  to  have 
had  any  rational  foundation  was  a  possible  desire  to  get  back 
into  his  own  custody  the  bogus  letter  which  he  once  wrote  and 
palmed  off  on  the  people  of  the  Grants  as  a  genuine  epistle. 
The  secret  springs  of  human  action  must  be  known  to  give 
accuracy  to  the  portraits  of  history.  Was  that  Chipman's 


2l6  MATTHEW  LYON 

motive?  Did  Lyon  have  that  letter?  Most  likely  he  did.  He 
was  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Confiscation  or  War,  the 
son-in-law  of  Governor  Chittenden,  and  his  most  confidential 
and  trusted  adviser.  Chittenden  and  Lyon  were  Democrats; 
Chipman  was  a  Federalist.  Chittenden  was  once  attacked  and 
defeated  for  Governor  by  the  Chipman  party,  but  at  the  next 
election  the  slanders  which  had  been  hatched  against  Chitten 
den  and  used  to  his  temporary  detriment,  were  stamped  out, 
and  he  was  triumphantly  re-elected  Governor,  and  held  the 
office  nearly  as  long  as  he  lived.  It  was  a  period  when  things 
looked  dark  in  Vermont,  and  the  people  were  distracted,  as 
Prof.  James  Davie  Butler  said  in  his  1846  address,  by  the 
"  infinite  conjugation  of  the  verb  suspect."  The  Haldimand 
intrigue,  like  the  shirt  of  Nessus,  clung  tight  and  could  not  be 
gotten  rid  of,  and  Mr.  Chipman's  letter,  falsely  purporting  to 
have  been  written  by  the  British  General  St.  Leger,  had  a 
treasonable  squint,  or  as  General  Stark  said,  "  an  aspect  of  in 
iquity,"  which  perhaps  made  Chipman  uncomfortable  and 
anxious  to  get  it  back  in  his  own  hands.  If  Matthew  Lyon 
had  that  letter  in  his  possession,  to  his  credit  be  it  said,  he 
never  made  it  known,  never  brought  it  to  Philadelphia,  nor 
waved  it  in  Congress  to  show  how  Mr.  Chipman  once  had  been 
in  a  conspiracy  with  the  enemies  of  the  United  States  to  carry 
over  Vermont  to  the  English  side  in  the  Revolution,  and  make 
her  a  loyal  colony  of  the  mother  country.  He  was  too  true  a 
Vermonter,  too  much  of  a  man  for  this.  And  yet  had  Lyon 
done  so,  he  would  have  had  far  more  justification  for  such  a 
charge  than  Chipman  had  in  brandishing  a  wooden  sword  over 
[Matthew  Lyon,  because  the  letter  was  a  fact  and  the  wooden 
sword  a  lie.  Mr.  Henry  Clark,  of  Rutland,  Vermont,  tells  the 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS 

story  of  the  bogus  letter  succinctly  in  his  address  upon  the 
"  Historical  Value  of  Monuments,"  delivered  at  Castleton, 
January  15,  1881,  before  the  Rutland  County  Historical  So 
ciety.  "  One  hundred  years  ago,"  says  Mr.  Clark,  "  scenes 
were  transpiring  at  that  little  fort  pregnant  with  the  weal  or 
woe  of  the  young  republic  of  Vermont.  Here  practically  was 
settled  whether  Vermont  should  retain  her  independence  or 
give  her  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown.  *  *  *  In  Sep 
tember,  1781,  Ira  Allen  and  Joseph  Fay  met  the  British  com 
missioners  in  secret  conclave  at  Skeensboro  (Whitehall)  to  per 
fect  their  negotiations  and  renew  the  armistice.  The  Gover 
nor  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  King,  and  the  Legislature  by 
the  people.  *  *  *  It  was  at  this  time  that  Sergeant  Tup- 
per  was  killed  by  one  of  St.  Leger's  scouts.  General  St.  Leger 
decently  buried  the  body,  sent  his  clothing  to  General  Enos 
with  an  open  letter  to  Governor  Chittenden,  making  apology 
for  killing  him,  saying  his  picket  not  knowing  the  situation. 
As  the  letter  was  not  sealed  its  contents  became  known  among 
the  officers  and  men,  *  *  *  and  presently  the  whole 
Legislature  were  awake  to  the  subject.  *  *  *  Governor 
Chittenden  lost  no  time  in  assembling  the  Board  of  War  at 
his  room,  all  of  whom  were  in  the  secret,  and  happened  to  be 
present.  *  *  *  The  Board  of  War  at  once  sent  for 
Nathaniel  Chipman  of  Tinmouth,  as  counsel,  and  let  him  into 
the  secret,  and  it  is  said  that  he  advised  the  course  taken  (to 
make  out  a  new  set  of  letters)  and  prepared  the  bogus  letters 
which  were  read.  Treason  was  snuffed  and  the  excitement  in 
tense.  *  *  *  Many  doubts  have  been  cast  upon  the  au 
thenticity  of  this  transaction,  but  in  the  light  of  history  its  real- 


2l8  MATTHEW   LYON 

ity  and  truth  have  been  revealed."  (Rutland  County  Hist. 
Soc.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  182,  et  seq.) 

Nathaniel  Chipman,  son  of  a  blacksmith,  author  of  the  bogus 
letter  which  was  read  before  the  Legislature  at  Charlestown, 
Vermont,  in  order  to  deceive  the  people,  aroused  over  a  sus 
pected  treasonable  correspondence  during  the  Revolution  with 
a  British  officer,  was  now  in  1797  a  Senator  of  the  United 
States  from  Vermont.  He  circulated  malicious  stories  among 
congressmen  to  the  prejudice  of  Matthew  Lyon,  and  de 
scended  from  his  high  station  to  defame  a  fellow  Vermonter, 
and  whisper  stale,  refuted  slanders  to  Roger  Griswold  and 
others  relative  to  the  cashiering  of  Lyon  by  Gates.  If  he  had 
told  only  the  truth,  for  example,  the  story  of  the  two  bulls  in 
which  Colonel  Lyon  took  much  pride  and  which  a  modern 
writer,  Rudyard  Kipling,  in  his  "  Mowgli's  Oath — '  By  the  bull 
that  bought  me/  "a  has  borrowed  from  the  old  Colonel 
with  evident  admiration  of  Lyon's  epigrammatic  style  of  em 
ploying  it  when  speaking  of  his  exploits,  that  might  be  ex 
cused  on  the  score  of  political  rivalry.  But  when  he  sat  toad- 
like  at  the  ears  of  congressmen  from  other  States  whispering 
gross  fabrications  and  venomous  slanders  against  a  representa 
tive  from  his  own  State,  which,  when  they  were  repeated  in  his 
presence  were  repelled  by  that  representative,  and  precipitated 
a  disgraceful  fight  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  the  question  arises, 
who  was  responsible  for  the  fight,  Chipman  the  back-biter,  or 
Griswold  and  Lyon  the  fighters? 

Colonel  Lyon  took  his  seat  in  the  House  as  a  new  member 
May  the  I5th,  1797,  when  the  Federal  Government  was  but 
eight  years  old.  Already  in  Washington's  first  cabinet  two 

«  New  York  "  Tribune,"  July  23,  1899. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  219 

commanding  figures  had  appeared.  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  great 
apostle  of  Democracy,  and  Mr.  Hamilton,  the  great  apostle  of 
Centralization.  These  two  men  saved  the  country  from  dis 
union  at  the  outset  by  a  compromise  between  the  North  and 
South  upon  the  national  assumption  of  the  debts  of  the  States, 
and  the  choice  of  a  seat  of  government.  But  Mr.  Jefferson 
regretted  his  share  in  the  compromise,  and  Mr.  Hamilton,  hav 
ing  control  of  the  public  purse,  soon  dominated  the  Cabinet  of 
Washington.  Great  strategist  as  he  was  in  statecraft,  Hamil 
ton  confronted  in  Jefferson  the  only  man  in  America  who  was 
his  superior  in  handling  large  questions  of  public  policy.  As 
soon  as  he  was  convinced  that  Hamilton  would  win,  for  Wash 
ington  was  on  his  side,  and  all  the  others  were  but  pawns  in  his 
hands,  Jefferson's  next  move  was  a  masterly  retreat. 

His  unerring  judgment  in  retiring  from  the  Cabinet  prob 
ably  saved  him  from  the  fate  of  poor  Edmund  Randolph,  his 
successor,  who  fell  victim  to  a  contemptible  plot  of  Oliver  Wol- 
cott  and  the  other  Hamilton  men  surrounding  Washington; 
and  from  the  still  more  melancholy  fate  which  afterwards  over 
took  John  Adams  when  the  old  Braintree  hero's  administra 
tion  was  controlled  and  completely  wrecked  by  the  Hamil 
ton  faction.  There  is  something  pathetic  in  the  story  of  the 
undoubting  faith  of  John  Adams  in  the  Hamilton  spy  Wol- 
cott,  who,  after  the  President  took  him  into  his  Cabinet  as 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  betrayed  all  his  secrets  to  his  arch 
enemy,  and  in  the  end,  with  a  knife  in  one  hand,  stretched  out 
the  other  to  accept  from  his  impulsive,  unsuspecting  victim  a 
life  office  as  Federal  judge. 

"  Some  of  the  most  delicate  facts  stated,"  wrote  Hamilton 
to  Wolcott,  when  about  to  send  a  Parthian  shaft  into  the  side 


220  MATTHEW  LYON 

of  Adams,  "  I  hold  from  the  three  ministers,  yourself  particu 
larly,  and  I  do  not  think  myself  at  liberty  to  take  the  step  with 
out  your  consent.  I  never  mean  to  bring  proof,  but  to  stand 
upon  the  credit  of  my  own  veracity."0 

And  he  transmitted  to  the  Cabinet  spy  the  first  draft  of  his 
philippic  for  him  to  spice  more  highly  the  "  delicate  facts," 
which  task  Wolcott  forthwith  performed.  What  a  spectacle! 
Prudent  Mr.  Jefferson  in  getting  out  of  reach! 

Wolcott  next  wrote  an  oily  letter  to  the  President,  gushing 
with  sycophantic  thanks  for  the  new  office  which  Adams  in 
man  fashion  had  bestowed,  and  sturdy  old  John  replied  hand 
somely  to  his  punic  friend.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  in  refer 
ring  to  this  reply  of  his  grandfather  to  Wolcott,  has  put  on 
record  the  following  declaration: 

"  To  the  day  of  his  death  Mr.  Adams  never  suspected  that 
the  individual  to  whom  he  addressed  this  letter  overflowing 
with  kindness  was  the  person  who  had  secretly  furnished  the 
confidential  information  obtained  as  a  Cabinet  officer  and  ad 
viser  of  the  President,  upon  which  Mr.  Hamilton  rested  his 
attack  upon  his  reputation,  and  had  revised,  corrected, 
amended  and  approved  all  of  tfiat  paper  whilst  in  manu 
script.  *  *  * 

"  It  is  worthy  of  remark  in  this  connection,  that  in  all  the 
subsequent  vicissitudes  of  party  conflict  in  the  United  States,  no 
similar  violation  of  confidence  in  Cabinet  officers  has  ever 
taken  place."6 

On  the  2d  of  June,  1797,  the  subject  of  the  answer  to  the 

«"Gibb's  Administration  of  Washington  and  Adams,"  II,  422. 
6 "  Life   and   Works   of  John   Adams,"   by   his   grandson    Charles 
Francis  Adams,  IX,  100-101. 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  221 

speech  of  the  new  President,  Mr.  Adams,  was  under  discus 
sion.  Lyon  opposed  the  mode  of  procedure,  and  for  his  hardi 
hood  was  assailed  by  the  Federalists  as  a  plebeian,  and  John 
Allen,  of  Connecticut,  disdaining  men  with  Irish  brogue  flung 
on  these  shores  from  Europe,  appealed  to  the  better  blood  and 
accent  of  Americans  to  keep  Democrats  in  check.  This  put 
the  Vermont  Democrat  on  his  mettle.  He  already  perceived 
that  some  sneak  from  his  own  State  had  been  whispering  false 
stories  about  him,  and  the  attempt  to  put  him  down  by  sneers 
and  aristocratic  airs  brought  him  to  his  feet  on  the  3d  of  June 
with  the  following  motion: 

"  That  such  members  as  do  not  choose  to  attend  upon  the 
President,  to  present  the  answer  to  his  speech,  shall  be  ex 
cused."  Thereupon  Matthew  Lyon  made  his  maiden  speech 
in  the  halls  of  Congress. 

"  Mr.  Lyon  said  he  yesterday  voted  against  the  appointment 
of  a  committee  to  wait  upon  the  President  to  know  when  and 
where  he  would  receive  their  address,  because  he  believed  the 
President  should  always  be  ready  to  receive  important  com 
munications.  He  wished  to  make  a  motion."  (Given  above.) 
He  wished  to  be  understood.  He  thought  the  motion  a 
reasonable  one,  it  proposed  to  leave  them  at  liberty  to  do  as 
they  pleased.  And  by  the  rules  he  saw  he  was  obliged  to 
attend.  He  was  told  he  might  stay  behind  without  being 
noticed;  but  this  was  not  enough  for  him,  as  he  was  a  timid 
man,  and  the  House  had  the  law  on  their  side,  as  he  recollected 
something  of  a  reprimand  which  had  been  given  to  Mr.  Whit 
ney.  (The  Speaker  reminded  him  it  was  out  of  order  to  cen 
sure  the  proceedings  of  the  House  on  any  former  occasion.) 

He  said  he  stood  corrected  and  proceeded. 


222  MATTHEW  LYON 

He  had  spoken,  he  said,  to  both  sides  of  the  House  (as  they 
were  called)  on  the  subject.  One  side  dissuaded  him  from  his 
motion,  and  laughed  at  it;  the  other  side  did  not  wish  to  join 
in  it,  because  it  would  look  like  disrespect  to  the  person  lately 
elected,  who  was  not  a  man  of  their  choice ;  but  he  trusted  our 
magnanimous  President  would,  with  the  enlightened  yeo 
manry  of  America,  despise  such  a  boyish  piece  of  business. 
This,  he  said,  was  no  new  subject  with  him;  he  had  long  heard 
the  folly  of  the  wise  made  a  matter  of  wonder  in  this  respect.0 
It  was  said  this  was  not  the  time  to  abolish  the  custom;  but  this 
was  the  cant  used  against  every  kind  of  reform.  No  better 
time  could  ever  arrive,  he  said,  than  this,  which  was  the  thres 
hold  of  a  new  Presidency,  at  a  time  when  the  man  elected  to  the 
office  was  beloved  and  revered  by  his  fellow  citizens;  he  was 
as  yet  unused  to  vain  adulation;  he  had  spent  a  great  part  of 
his  life  amongst  a  people  whose  love  of  a  plainness  of  manners 
forbids  all  pageantry ;  he  would  be  glad  to  see  the  custom  done 
away.  Were  he  acting  in  his  own  personal  character,  he  per 
haps  might  conform  to  the  idle  usage,  but  acting  as  he  was  for 
eighty  thousand  people,  every  father  of  a  family  in  his  district 
would  condemn  him  for  such  an  act. 

The  gentleman  from  Connecticut  (Mr.  Allen)  yesterday 
hoped  there  would  be  American  blood  enough  to  carry  the 
question.  (The  Speaker  again  reminded  him  that  he  was  out 
of  order  to  allude  to  what  was  done  yesterday,  and  said  the 
proper  motion  would  be  to  rescind  the  rule.)6 

0  Colonel  Lyon  here  refers  to  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson's  famous  lines  in 
"Vanity  of  Human  Wishes": 

"  Fears  of  the  brave,  and  follies  of  the  wise! 
From  Marlborough's  eyes  the  streams  of  dotage  flow, 
And  Swift  expires  a  driveller  and  a  show." 

*  Speaker  Jonathan  Dayton,  afterwards  in  the  Burr  conspiracy, 
makes  himself  ridiculous  ia  this  ruling. 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  223 

Mr.  Lyon  continued :  "  He  did  not  wish  to  rescind  the  rule, 
he  said,  only  so  much  of  it  as  obliged  the  House  to  attend. 
This,  he  said,  was  no  trifling  with  him,  he  should  have  as  great 
an  objection  to  attend  this  business,  as  a  Quaker  would  to 
make  his  obeisance  to  a  magistrate.  (The  Speaker  said  he 
must  move  to  rescind  the  rule,  or  that  he  himself  be  excused, 
no  other  motion  was  in  order.)  Then,  he  said,  he  must  con 
fine  himself  to  the  narrow  grounds  of  himself.  He  had  no 
objection  to  gentlemen  of  high  blood  carrying  this  address. 
He  had  no  pretensions  to  high  blood,  though  he  thought  he  had 
as  good  blood  as  any  of  them,  as  he  was  born  of  a  fine,  hale, 
healthy  woman.  Before  yesterday  he  never  heard  of  gentle 
men  boasting  of  their  blood  in  that  House  He  could  not  say, 
it  was  true,  that  he  was  descended  from  the  bastards  of  Oliver 
Cromwell,  or  his  courtiers,  or  from  the  Puritans  who  punished 
their  horses  for  breaking  the  Sabbath,  or  from  those  who  per 
secuted  the  Quakers,  or  hanged  the  witches.  He  could,  how 
ever,  say  that  this  was  his  country,  because  he  had  no  other; 
and  he  owned  a  share  of  it,  which  he  had  bought  by  means  of 
honest  industry;  he  had  fought  for  his  country.  In  every  day 
of  trouble  he  had  repaired  to  her  standard,  and  had  conquered 
under  it.  Conquest  had  led  his  country  to  independence,  and 
being  independent,  he  called  no  man's  blood  in  question."6 

This  speech  caused  a  sensation  in  the  House.  Mr.  Allen 
discovered  that  the  Irish  born  gentleman  from  Vermont  knew 
how  to  answer  his  remarks  in  relation  to  "  American  blood  " 
and  "  American  accent/'  in  vigorous,  penetrable  English. 


6  Annals  of  Congress,  Vth  Cong.,  1797,  Vol.  I,  pp.  234-5. 


224  MATTHEW   LYON 

From  that  moment  the  high-flyers  among  the  Federalists  de 
termined  to  get  up  the  hue  and  cry  against  Colonel  Lyon,  and 
reduce  him  to  silence  and  submission.  They  little  suspected 
how  hard  it  would  prove. 

The  report  in  the  Annals  concludes  as  follows : 

"  Mr.  Dana  observed  that  the  House  would  not  wish  to  do 
violence  to  the  gentleman's  feelings.  It  was  true  some  of  the 
most  respectable  men  in  the  United  States  had  waited  upon 
the  President  in  a  similar  way;  yet  if  the  gentleman  thought  it 
would  not  comport  with  his  own  dignity  to  do  it,  he  hoped  he 
would  be  excused.  The  motion  to  excuse  him  was  put  and 
carried  unanimously." 

In  Porcupine's  report  the  following  is  added:  "Mr.  Otis 
said,  as  the  Lyon  appeared  to  be  in  a  savage  mood,  he  would 
recommend  him  to  be  locked  up  while  the  House  proceeded 
to  the  President.  (He  was  loudly  called  to  order  from  several 
parts  of  the  House/')0 

Little  Judge  Chipman,  the  Senator  from  Vermont,  was  very 
industrious  about  this  time.  The  excitement  of  the  Federal 
ists  over  Matthew  Lyon's  manly  speech,  gave  Chipman  a 
favorable  opportunity  to  "  feed  fat  the  ancient  grudge  "  he  bore 
him.  Lyon  afterwards  traced  to  Chipman  the  spreading 
abroad  at  Philadelphia  of  petty  calumnies  against  him,  long 
since  exploded  in  Vermont,  and  made  him  admit  it  under  oath. 
"  At  Rutland  I  was  in  company,"  deposed  Judge  Chipman, 
"with  Mr.  Lyon  and  two  gentlemen  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  some  gentlemen  of  the  bar,  at  our  private  quarters.  In 
the  conversation  between  Mr.  Lyon  and  myself,  my  expression 
was:  If  he  did  not  expect  that  this  ridiculous  speech  in  Con- 

«"  Porcupine's  Works,"  VI,  170-1 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  22$ 

gress,  relative  to  the  address,  would  bring  up  the  wooden 
sword?  I  mentioned  in  Philadelphia  the  conversation  with 
Mr.  Lyon  in  a  company  one  evening.  I  believe  Mr.  Griswold 
was  present.  I  think  it  probable  I  have  also  related  the  con 
versation  which  I  had  with  Mr.  Lyon  at  Rutland,  more  than 
once  in  this  city."  a 

That  which  Judge  Chipman  called  a  "  ridiculous  speech  " 
was  not  so  considered  by  Mr.  Jefferson.  One  of  the  first  acts 
of  the  latter  when  he  became  President  was  to  secure  the 
abolition  of  the  custom  of  royal  visits  between  the  Executive 
and  Congress,  and  no  more  Congressional  pageants  to  the 
White  House  from  that  day  to  this  have  been  seen  in  the 
streets  of  Washington.  Matthew  Lyon  had  hit  them  off  well 
as  "  a  boyish  piece  of  business." 

In  reference  to  the  wooden  sword  story  Judge  Chipman  also 
stated  in  his  deposition  as  follows :  "  Colonel  Lyon  observed 
that  if  anyone  at  Philadelphia,  or  if  any  member  of  Congress 
should  insult  him  with  it,  or  pretend  to  mention  it  to  him,  it 
should  not  pass  with  impunity."  Was  it  not  singular,  did  it 
not  look  like  a  preconcerted  scheme,  that  the  very  man  to 
whom  Chipman  related  that  false  and  contemptible  story, 
should  be  the  one  that  some  time  after  taunted  Lyon  with  the 
insulting  charge  on  the  floor  of  Congress?  Roger  Griswold 
asked  him  whether  he  meant  to  wear  his  wooden  sword  when 
he  next  went  into  Connecticut,  asked  the  question  in  the  pres 
ence  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  and  several  other  members 
of  Congress,  all  of  whom  heard  it.  Burning  with  indignation, 


«  Deposition  of  Senator  Chipman  before  the  Committee  of  Privileges 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Philadelphia,  Feb.  6,  1798.  Annals 
of  Congress,  1797-1799,  pp.  1023-1024. 


226  MATTHEW   LYON 

but  mindful  of  his  surroundings,  for  the  scene  took  place  on 
the  floor  of  Congress  during  a  lull  in  the  proceedings  but  be 
fore  adjournment,  Colonel  Lyon  pretended  not  to  hear  Gris- 
wold,  and  turned  his  head  in  another  direction,  continuing  his 
conversation  with  the  Speaker  and  the  others,  in  which  he  had 
been  previously  engaged.  But  the  young  man  Griswold  was 
not  to  be  denied,  he  was  fifteen  years  younger  than  Lyon,  and 
so  he  remarked  to  Congressman  Brooks  "  he  does  not  hear 
me,"  got  up  from  his  seat,  walked  over  to  Matthew  Lyon, 
pulled  him  by  the  arm,  and  repeated  his  infamous  and  degrad 
ing  question.  Is  it  any  wonder  when  thus  goaded  that  Mat 
thew  Lyon  turned  upon  his  tormentor  and  spat  in  his  face? 
Judge  Linton  Stephens  once  did  the  same  thing  with  a  man 
who  had  maltreated  in  a  ruffianly  manner  his  emaciated 
brother,  the  illustrious  Alexander  H.  Stephens  of  Georgia. 
There  are  other  noted  cases  where  men  of  spirit  in  situations 
which  precluded  corporal  chastisement  of  the  offenders  have 
resorted  under  extreme  provocation  to  the  same  mode  of  pun 
ishment. 

My  Lord  Chesterfield  might  not  have  done  it,  but  Ethan 
Allen  or  Seth  Warner,  Andrew  Jackson  or  Phil  Sheridan  very 
probably  would  have  done  it  in  like  circumstances.  At  all 
events,  Matthew  Lyon  did  do  it,  and  the  whole  pack  of  Federal 
hounds  went  on  the  trail  of  the  Lyon  of  Vermont,  and  soon 
had  him  at  bay.  A  very  unexpected  witness  in  Lyon's  favor 
was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  who  had  defeated  another 
popular  churchman,  Bishop  John  Carroll  of  Baltimore,  in  the 
election  for  Chaplain  of  the  House.  Dr.  Green  says,  while  he 
objected  to  see  his  own  face  in  a  picture  of  the  fight,  neverthe 
less  that  the  Federalists  were  unable  to  expel  Lyon  because  he 


1HE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  22/ 

was  the  assailed  party,  and  was  only  defending  himself  from 
being  made  a  butt  of  ridicule  by  Griswold.0 

The  affair  took  place  on  Tuesday  the  3Oth  of  January,  1798. 
Forthwith  on  the  same  day,  Samuel  Sewell  of  Massachusetts 
offered  this  resolution :  "  Resolved,  That  Matthew  Lyon,  a 
member  of  the  House,  for  a  violent  attack,  and  gross  indecency 
committed  upon  the  person  of  Roger  Griswold,  another  mem 
ber,  in  the  presence  of  this  House,  whilst  sitting,  be,  for  this 
disorderly  behaviour,  expelled  therefrom."  A  Committee  of 
Privileges  was  appointed  with  power  to  investigate  the  entire 
affair,  to  sit  during  the  session,  and  to  report  to  the  House. 
The  Committee  were  Messrs.  Pinckney,  Venable,  Kittera, 
Isaac  Parker,  R.  Williams,  Cochran  and  Dent.  Mr.  Pinckney, 
the  Chairman,  fell  sick,  and  Mr.  John  Rutledge,  Jr.,  was  ap 
pointed  in  his  place.  And  now  the  affair  was  worked  up  with 
all  the  sensational  adjuncts  which  declamation,  mock  heroics, 
partisan  rage  and  hope  to  oust  a  Democrat  and  win  a  seat  for 
a  Federalist  could  inspire  in  the  dominant  party.  "  Young 
Rutledge  joining  Smith  and  Harper,"  says  Jefferson  in  a  letter 
to  Madison,  "  is  an  ominous  fact  as  to  that  whole  interest."* 
Such  scenes  have  become  familiar  to  us  since  that  day,  but  this 
case  has  no  parallel  for  vituperation  and  rancor.  Outside  the 
House  the  excitement  spread,  but  the  country  took  the  humor 
ous  view  of  it  with  better  sense  of  perspective.  Wits  and  wit 
lings  poured  their  effusions  through  the  columns  of  the  papers 
and  in  broadsides  along  the  town.  "  Spitting  Matt,"  and 
"  Roger,  the  Knight  of  the  Rheumful  Countenance,"  in  Federal 
doggerel  and  Democratic  ballad,  went  broadcast  over  the  land. 

a  "  Life  of  Rev.  Ashbel  Green,"  p.  267. 
* "  Jefferson's  Works,"  IV,  180. 


228  MATTHEW   LYON 

Brush  and  pencil,  picture  and  caricature,  added  much  to  the 
hilarity,  and  Matthew  Lyon  shortly  became  the  best  known 
man  in  the  country.  Mr.  Griswold  didn't  get  his  second  wind 
for  over  two  weeks,  and  then  he  went  to  McAlister's  store  on 
Chestnut  street  and  bought  the  biggest  yellow  stick  on  sale. 
Armed  with  this  cane  or  bludgeon,  he  repaired  to  the  House  on 
Thursday,  the  I5th  of  February,  and  coming  on  Colonel  Lyon 
unawares,  who  was  seated  at  his  desk,  began  to  beat  him  about 
the  head  and  shoulders  unmercifully,  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  Congress,  with  Mr.  Speaker  in  the  chair  quietly  egging 
him  on.  It  was  commented  on  at  the  time  that  the  Speaker 
forgot  all  about  calling  to  order  or  trifles  of  that  sort,  until 
Lyon  got  the  tongs  and  began  to  give  thump  for  thump,  when 
down  the  combatants  came  on  the  floor,  and  members  rushed 
between  and  parted  them,  and  down  Mr.  Speaker  came  with 
his  objections  for  the  first  time  since  the  beginning  of  the  game, 
not  in  the  shape  of  a  call  to  order,  but  objections  to  Griswold's 
legs  being  taken  hold  of  by  the  peacemakers.  "  What!  "  said 
he,  "Take  hold  of  a  man  by  the  legs!  That  is  no  way  to  take 
hold  of  him."  In  his  testimony,  Mr.  Gillespie,  a  member  from 
North  Carolina,  stated  "  that  Mr.  Lyon  expressed  disapproba 
tion  at  being  parted,  and  said  as  he  was  rising,  '  I  wish  I  had 
been  let  alone  awhile.'  " 

The  Speaker  was  Jonathan  Dayton,  afterwards  engaged  in 
the  Burr  conspiracy,  and  fair  play  or  foul  play,  he  wanted  Lyon 
licked.  "  I  appeal,"  said  he,  "  to  the  breast  of  every  honorable 
gentleman  whether  the  members  of  that  House  would  consent 
to  sit  in  amity  with  such  a  man."0  Lyon's  reply  is  not 


<*  Annals  of  Vth  Congress,  p.  1004. 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS 

recorded,  but  was  doubtless  to  the  point,  as  the  Speaker  had 
before  found  him  ready  at  retort. 

I  reproduce  here  a  cartoon  of  the  fight  from  an  original  print 
of  that  day  which  was  thought  the  cleverest  bit  of  caricature 
of  the  whole  vast  quantity  of  run  mad  art  then  let  loose. 
Shades  of  likeness  to  the  men  are  found  in  it,  according  to  con 
temporary  testimony.  I  have  a  fine  picture  of  the  amiable 
Chaplain,  afterwards  President  of  Princeton,  Rev.  Ashbel 
Green,  and  certainly  can  detect  points  of  resemblance,  dis 
paraging  and  exaggerated  but  still  a  remote  likeness,  between 
the  cartoon  and  the  real  engraving. 

Speaking  of  Matthew  Lyon,  Mr.  L.  E.  Chittenden  of  New 
York,  said  in  a  letter  to  the  author,  February  3,  1881,  "  Those 
who  knew  him  assure  me  that  he  is  easily  recognizable  in  the 
picture  of  the  fight  with  Griswold,  but  of  course  the  picture  is 
an  exaggeration." 

February  3,  1798,  Gallatin  in  a  letter  to  his  wife  said:  "  The 
dispute  between  Griswold  and  Lyon  shows  you  what  asperity 
has  taken  place  between  members  of  Congress.  The  facts  you 
now  know  from  the  accounts  in  the  papers,  the  report  of  the 
committee  and  Lyon's  defense  in  this  morning's  Aurora.  I 
must  only  add  that  there  is  but  little  delicacy  in  the  usual  con 
versation  of  most  Connecticut  gentlemen;  that  they  have  con 
tracted  a  habit  of  saying  very  hard  things,  and  that  consider 
ing  Lyon  as  a  low-life  fellow,0  they  were  under  no  restraint  in 
regard  to  him.  No  man  can  blame  Lyon  for  having  resented 
the  insult.  All  must  agree  in  reprobating  the  mode  he 
selected  to  show  his  resentment,  and  the  place  where  the  act 

«  Gallatin  and  his  wife  did  not  so  consider  him,  as  they  soon  became 
warm  friends  of  Colonel  Lyon. 


230  MATTHEW    LYON 

was  committed.  As  two-thirds  are  necessary  to  expel,  he  will 
not,  I  believe,  be  expelled,  but  probably  be  reprimanded  at  the 
bar  by  the  Speaker."0 

Mr.  Henry  Adams,  the  first  of  his  family  in  whose  writings 
I  have  observed  a  word  of  temperate  treatment  of  Colonel 
Lyon,  says,  after  the  combatants  were  pulled  apart  by  the  legs, 
"  they  went  on  to  endanger  the  personal  safety  of  members  by 
striking  at  each  other  with  sticks  in  the  lobbies  and  about  the 
House  at  intervals  through  the  day,  until  at  last  Mr.  H.  G. 
Otis  succeeded  in  procuring  the  intervention  of  the  House  to 
compel  a  suspension  of  hostilities.  Lyon,  though  a  very 
rough  specimen  of  Democracy  "  (the  Adams  blood  was  be 
ginning  to  mount  here,  but  he  restrains  himself  and  adds,)  "  he 
was  by  no  means  a  contemptible  man,  and,  politics  aside, 
showed  energy  and  character  in  his  subsequent  career."6 

Gallatin  to  his  wife,  February  8,  says :  "  We  are  still  hunting 
the  Lyon,  and  it  is  indeed  the  most  unpleasant  and  unprofit 
able  business  that  ever  a  respectable  representative  body  did 
pursue."  February  I3th  again  he  reverts  to  the  subject:  "Are 
you  as  tired  of  modern  Congressional  debates  as  I  am?  I  sus 
pect  you  wish  your  husband  had  no  share  in  them,  and  was  in 
New  York  instead  of  attending  the  farcical  exhibition  which 
has  taken  place  here  this  last  week;  and  indeed  my  beloved 
Hannah  is  not  mistaken.  I  feel  as  I  always  do  when  absent 
from  her,  more  anxious  to  be  with  her  than  about  anything 
else;  but  in  addition  to  that  general  feeling,  I  am  really  dis 
gusted  at,  the  turn  of  public  debates,  and  if  nothing  but  such 
subjects  was  to  attract  our  attention,  it  must  be  the  desire  of 

«  "  Life  of  Gallatin,"  pp.  192-3. 
p.  192. 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  23! 

every  man  of  sense  to  be  out  of  such  a  body.  The  affectation 
of  delicacy,  the  horror  expressed  against  illiberal  imputations 
and  vulgar  language  in  the  mouth  of  an  Otis  or  a  Brooks,  were 
sufficiently  ridiculous;  but  when  I  saw  the  most  modest,  the 
most  decent,  the  most  delicate  man,  I  will  not  say  in  Congress, 
but  that  I  ever  met  in  private  conversation,  when  I  saw  Mr. 
Nicholas  alone  dare  to  extenuate  the  indecency  of  the  act  com- 
iinitted  by  Lyon,  and  then  I  saw  at  the  same  time  Colonel 
Parker  tremblingly  alive  to  the  least  indelicate  and  vulgar  ex 
pression  of  the  Vermonter,  vote  in  favor  of  his  expulsion,  I 
thought  the  business  went  beyond  forbearance,  and  the  whole 
of  the  proceeding  to  be  nothing  more  than  an  affected  cant  of 
pretended  delicacy,  or  the  offspring  of  bitter  party  spirit."* 

The  bitterness  of  feeling  surpassed  all  former  displays  in  the 
clash  of  factions.  Jefferson  mentions  something  of  this  in  a 
letter  to  Edward  Rutledge:  "Philadelphia,  June  24,  1797. 
You  and  I  have  formerly  seen  warm  debates  and  high  political 
passions,  but  gentlemen  of  different  politics  would  then  speak 
to  each  other,  and  separate  the  business  of  the  Senate  from  that 
of  society.  It  is  not  so  now.  Men  who  have  been  intimate 
all  their  lives,  cross  the  streets  to  avoid  meeting,  and  turn  their 
heads  another  way,  lest  they  should  be  obliged  to  touch  their 
hats.  This  may  do  for  young  men  with  whom  passion  is  en 
joyment,  but  it  is  afflicting  to  peaceable  minds.  Tranquillity  is 
the  old  man's  milk.  I  go  to  enjoy  it  in  a  few  days,  and  to  ex 
change  the  war  and  tumult  of  bulls  and  bears  for  the  prattle  of 
my  grandchildren  and  senile  rest."6 

In  a  letter  to  James  Madison,  dated  Philadelphia,  February 


"Ibid.,  pp.  192-3. 

»"  Jefferson's  Works,"  IV,  191-2. 


232  MATTHEW   LYON 

15,  1798,  Jefferson  says:  "  You  will  have  seen  the  disgusting- 
proceedings  in  the  case  of  Lyon;  if  they  would  have  accepted 
even  of  a  commitment  to  the  sergeant,  it  might  have  been  had. 
But  to  get  rid  of  his  vote  was  the  most  material  object.  These 
proceedings  must  degrade  the  General  Government  and  lead 
the  people  to  lean  more  on  their  State  Governments,  which 
have  been  sunk  under  the  early  popularity  of  the  former."* 
The  extremists  swept  the  conservatists  along  with  them  by 
violence  and  browbeating,  and  men  like  Pinckney  and  Harper, 
noted  before  for  their  polished  manners,  became  scolds  only 
less  disreputable  than  Dayton  and  Dana.  "  Mr.  Pinckney," 
says  Jefferson,  in  a  letter  to  Madison  under  date  of  March  29, 
1798,  "  in  the  affair  of  Lyon  and  Griswold  went  far  beyond 
that  moderation  he  has  on  other  occasions  recommended." b 
The  remark  of  Colonel  Lyon  in  his  conversation  with  Speaker 
Dayton  that  the  people  of  Connecticut  were  attached  to  Re 
publican  principles,  and  that  by  going  among  them,  as  he  knew 
them  well,  he  would  be  able  to  convince  them  that  their  present 
leaders  were  misleading  them,  shortly  received  emphatic  con 
firmation  in  a  letter  to  Edmund  Pendleton  from  Mr.  Jefferson. 
"  Philadelphia,  April  2,  1798.  A  wonderful  stir  is  com 
mencing  in  the  Eastern  States.  The  dirty  business  of  Lyon 
and  Griswold  was  of  a  nature  to  fly  through  the  newspapers, 
both  Whig  and  Tory,  and  to  excite  the  attention  of  all  classes. 
It,  of  course,  carried  to  their  attention,  at  the  same  time,  the 
debates  out  of  which  that  affair  springs.  The  subject  of  these 
debates  was,  whether  the  representatives  of  the  people  were  to 
have  no  check  on  the  expenditure  of  the  public  money,  and  the 

"Ibid.,  IV,  211. 
*Ibid.,  IV,  227. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  233 

Executive  to  squander  it  at  their  will,  leaving  to  the  Legisla 
ture  only  the  drudgery  of  furnishing  the  money.  They  begin 
to  open  their  eyes  on  this  to  the  eastward,  and  to  suspect  they 
have  been  hoodwinked.  Two  or  three  Whig  presses  have  set 
up  in  Massachusetts,  and  as  many  more  in  Connecticut."  ° 

Matthew  Lyon's  boldness  had  set  the  ball  in  motion,  and 
printer's  ink  began  to  scatter  the  seed  of  the  renaissance; — Jef 
ferson  like  Byron  believed  in  the  efficacy  of  the  pen.  The  poet 
says: 

"  But  words  are  things,  and  a  small  drop  of  ink, 
Falling,  like  dew,  upon  a  thought,  produces 
That  which  makes  thousands,  perhaps  millions,  think." 

It  was  a  matter  of  frequent  remark  at  the  time  that  Gris- 
wold's  courage  was  small,  scarcely  discernible,  and  his  willing 
ness  to  transfer  his  quarrels  to  others  excessive  and  very  mani 
fest.  Provoking  a  conflict  and  declining  it  when  joined,  in 
sulted  ignominiously  and  not  lifting  a  finger  to  resent  the  in 
sult,  and  that  too  in  an  age  when  unfortunately  among  gentle 
men  the  code  duello  was  everywhere  recognized  and  enforced, 
Roger  Griswold  came  out  of  his  first  encounter  with  Lyon  in 
a  very  damaged  condition  on  the  score  of  genuine  courage. 
His  inconsequential  meekness  was  suggestive  of  Shylock  when 
Antonio  spat  upon  his  Jewish  gabardine,  or  of  Falstaff  when 
brought  to  bay  by  the  Douglas,  and  the  fat  man  falls  down  as  if 
dead,  with  the  sage  reflection  that  "  the  better  part  of  valor  is 
discretion."  Mr.  Madison  seemed  to  take  this  view  of  the 
doughty  Connecticut  warrior,  and  while  agreeing  with  Gallatin 
and  Jefferson  that  the  main  object  of  the  Federalists  was  to 
get  rid  of  Lyon's  vote  in  the  House,  the  father  of  the  Constitu- 

«  "  Jefferson's  Works,"  IV,  229. 


234  MATTHEW    LYON 

tion  flouts  Griswold  as  a  man  of  the  sword,  quite  unworthy  of 
Congressional  vindication. 

"  The  affair  of  Lyon  and  Griswold,"  said  Madison,  in  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Jefferson,  written  in  February,  1798,  "  is  bad  enough 
every  way,  but  worst  of  all  in  becoming  a  topic  of  tedious  and 
disgraceful  debates  in  Congress.  There  certainly  could  be  no 
necessity  for  removing  it  from  the  decision  of  the  parties  them 
selves  before  that  tribunal,  and  its  removal  was  evidently  a 
sacrifice  of  the  dignity  of  the  latter  to  the  party  manoeuvre  of 
ruining  a  man  whose  popularity  and  activity  were  feared.  If 
the  state  of  the  House  suspended  its  rules  in  general,  it  was 
under  no  obligation  to  see  any  irregularity  which  did  not  force 
itself  into  public  notice ;  and  if  Griswold  be  a  man  of  the  sword, 
he  should  not  have  permitted  the  step  to  be  taken;  if  not,  he 
does  not  deserve  to  be  avenged  by  the  House.  No  man  ought 
to  reproach  another  with  cowardice  who  is  not  ready  to  give 
proof  of  his  own  courage."  a 

When  Griswold,  armed  with  his  big  stick,  broke  out  on  a 
rampage  in  a  crowded  House,  attacked  without  risk  to  himself 
a  defenseless  man  seated  at  his  desk  and  unaware  of  the  ap 
proach  of  his  assailant,  and  beat  his  victim,  before  he  could  get 
up  to  defend  himself,  with  all  the  strength  and  premeditated 
cowardice  at  his  command,  as  if  he  wanted  to  stretch  him 
senseless  if  not  dead  at  his  feet,  what  did  this  self-righteous 
Congress  do  about  it?  Just  nothing  at  all.  Expel  Griswold? 
No,  they  did  not  even  censure  him.  Well  might  Mr.  Madison 
when  he  heard  of  the  cowardly  assault,  write  to  Mr.  Jefferson 
and  say:  "  I  am  curious  to  see  how  the  zealots  for  expelling 
Lyon  will  treat  the  deliberate  riot  of  Griswold.  The  whole 

o  "  Letters  and  Other  Writings  of  James  Madison,"  II,  127-8. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  235 

affair  has  been  extremely  disgraceful,  but  the  dignity  of  the 
body  will  be  wounded,  not  by  the  misconduct  of  individual 
members,  which  no  public  'body  ought  to  be  answerable  for, 
but  by  the  misconduct  of  itself,  that  is,  of  a  majority;  and  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  the  majority  in  this  case  are  ready  for  every 
sacrifice  to  the  spirit  of  party  which  infatuates  them.  The 
greatest  sinners  among  them  are  Sewall  and  Harper,  who 
forced  the  offensive  business  on  the  House."a 

Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan,  the  Irish  gentleman  whom 
Curran  had  defended,  was  at  this  time  on  a  visit  to  the  United 
States.  "  The  House  of  Congress,"  wrote  Mr.  Rowan  to  his 
wife,  "  is  becoming  a  boxing  school ;  the  Speaker  giving  chal 
lenges  from  the  chair,  and  when  taken  up  in  private,  putting 
the  matter  '  ad  referendum  '  till  the  end  of  the  session.  If  this 
is  a  specimen  of  a  democratic  republic,  Lord  help  us  sufferers 
in  the  cause!  "b  Speaker  Dayton  insulted  Colonel  Lyon  very 
grossly  in  the  House.  The  latter  made  no  public  reply.  Per 
haps  Mr.  Rowan's  words,  "  taken  up  in  private,"  may  mean 
that  Colonel  Lyon  called  down  the  Speaker  outside  the  House. 
It  was  just  like  him  to  do  it.  No  bully  ever  insulted  him  with 
impunity. 

But  let  me  now  give  the  curious  reader  of  our  early  Con 
gressional  annals  a  more  detailed  narrative  of  the  famous 
Lyon-Griswold  fight,  and  I  cannot  do  this  more  graphically 
than  by  calling  to  the  witness  stand  some  of  the  editors  of  the 
papers  of  that  day,  of  the  "  Aurora,"  "  Porcupine's  Gazette," 
etc.,  and  some  of  the  witnesses  who  testified  before  the  Con 
gressional  committee  while  the  first  fervor  and  rapture  of  the 

Qlbid.,  II,  129-30. 

b "  A.  H.  Rowan's  Autobiography,"  p.  321. 


236  MATTHEW   LYON 

strife  were  still  swaying  their  minds,  and  letting  them  all  speak 
for  themselves  in  their  own  fiery  and  impassioned  words. 

Congress  at  that  time  met  in  Philadelphia  in  a  house  at  the 
southeast  corner  of  Sixth  and  Chestnut  streets,  used  also  as  a 
District  and  Quarter  Sessions  Court  of  that  city.  The  House 
occupied  the  first  floor  rear,  and  the  Senate  the  back  room  of 
the  second  story. 

From  the  "  Aurora,"  January  31,  1798  (abridged): 
"The  House  of  Representatives  was  engaged  in  balloting 
for  managers  to  conduct  the  impeachment  before  the  Senate  of 
Senator  Blount  of  North  Carolina,  the  Speaker  being  out  of 
the  chair.  Just  before  the  adjournment  Mr.  Griswold  and  Mr. 
Lyon  being  outside  of  the  bar,  the  former  made  some  allusion 
to  a  story  circulated  in  some  of  the  Eastern  States  that  Mr. 
Lyon  had  been  obliged  to  wear  a  wooden  sword  for  cowardice 
in  the  field.  Upon  this  Mr.  Lyon  spit  in  Mr.  Griswold's  face. 
— Mr.  Sewall  desired  that  the  galleries  might  be  cleared,  and 
when  the  doors  were  closed  he  moved  that  Mr.  Lyon  be  ex 
pelled.  The  House  ordered  the  doors  to  be  opened,  and  the 
subject  was  then  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Privileges. 
The  Committee  soon  reported  to  the  effect  that  if  either  of  the 
members  offered  any  violence  to  the  other  before  a  final  de 
cision  of  the  House,  he  should  be  considered  guilty  of  a  high 
breach  of  privilege." 

Further  accounts  from  the  "  Aurora  "  (abridged) : 
"  On  the  ist  of  February  a  letter  from  Mr.  Lyon  to  the 
Speaker  was  read,  in  which  he  disclaimed  any  intentional  dis 
respect  to  the  House.  On  the  following  day  the  Committee 
of  Privileges  reported  the  facts  of  the  case  to  the  House,  and 
recommended  the  passage  of  a  resolution  for  Mr.  Lyon's  ex- 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  237 

pulsion.  The  debate  upon  this  report  continued  until  the  I2th 
of  February,  when  the  vote  upon  the  question  of  expulsion  was 
taken,  and  stood  ayes  52,  nays  44.  A  vote  of  two-thirds  being 
constitutionally  required  to  effect  an  expulsion,  the  motion  was 
lost. 

"  Of  the  affair  of  January  3oth  a  caricature  is  in  existence 
representing  Mr.  Lyon  as  a  lion  standing  on  its  hind  legs  and 
having  a  man's  head  in  profile.  A  wooden  sword  is  hanging 
by  his  side.  Griswold,  whose  name  admitted  of  no  pun,  is 
holding  a  handkerchief  in  his  hand,  and  exclaiming  '  What  a 
beastly  action.' " 

From  the  "  Aurora  "  of  February  16,  1798: 

"  Yesterday,  after  prayers,  nearly  half  an  hour  after  the  time 
to  which  the  House  had  adjourned,  and  after  the  Speaker  had 
taken  the  chair,  Mr.  Lyon  was  sitting  in  his  seat  (which  is  the 
center  of  a  row  of  desks)  with  his  hat  off  and  inclining  forward 
with  his  eyes  on  a  paper  before  him.  Mr.  Griswold  left  his 
seat  with  a  stout  hickory  club,  came  up  to  Mr.  Lyon  on  his 
right  front,  and  without  warning  struck  him  once  and  again 
over  the  head  and  shoulders  before  he  could  rise,  and  repeated 
his  blows,  which  Mr.  Lyon  endeavored  to  ward  off  with  his 
arm,  while  extricating  himself  from  the  surrounding  desks  and 
chairs.  Mr.  L.  attempting  to  close  in,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
blows,  pushed  forward  towards  the  Speaker's  chair,  Mr.  G. 
endeavoring  to  preserve  the  distance  and  repeating  his  blows. 
Mr.  L.  at  length  got  hold  of  the  tongs;  but  after  one  stroke 
with  them,  his  antagonist  closing  in,  both  the  tongs  and  the 
club  were  dropped,  and  the  two  members  fell,  Mr.  G.  having 
Mr.  L.  partly  under  him.  There  was  no  call  of  order  from  the 
Speaker  all  this  time.  Two  members  endeavored  to  take  Mr. 


238  MATTHEW  LYON 

G.  off  by  pulling  him  by  the  legs.  The  Speaker  alleged  he 
should  be  taken  off  by  the  shoulders;  they  were,  however, 
separated.  A  few  minutes  afterwards  Mr.  G.  was  standing  in 
that  part  of  the  House  where  water  is  placed  for  the  use  of  the 
members.  Mr.  L.  came  up  to  the  same  place  with  a  cane  in 
his  hand;  as  soon  as  he  recognized  Mr.  G.  he  struck  him  with 
his  cane — on  which  Mr.  Sitgreaves  brought  Mr.  G.  a  hickory 
club;  but  the  members  interfered.  The  Speaker  then  called 
to  order  and  Messrs.  L.  &  G.  separated. 

"  We  are  happy  to  add  that  Mr.  L.  is  not  so  much  hurt  as 
might  have  been  expected  from  the  violence  and  manner  of  the 
assault." 

Abridged  from  a  Federal  paper  of  the  period : 

*  Philadelphia,  February  16.     Another  Fracas  in  Congress. 

"Yesterday  morning  immediately  after  the  prayers  were 
over,  and  while  the  Speaker  was  in  the  chair,  but  before  the 
House  was  called  to  order,  Mr.  Griswold,  a  member  from  Con 
necticut,  observing  Mr.  Lyon,  of  Vermont,  in  his  seat,  left  the 
chair  in  which  he  usually  sat  and  moved  diagonally  towards 
the  table  occupied  by  the  Sergeant-at-Arms.  He  made  a  mo 
mentary  halt,  assumed  a  fierceness  of  countenance  to  which  he 
is  unaccustomed,  grasping  at  the  same  time  with  firmer  nerve 
the  hickory  stick  he  had  in  his  hand,  passed  on  with  three  or 
four  quick  steps,  till  he  came  near  to  Mr.  Lyon,  when  he  raised 
his  stick  and  drew  a  violent  stroke  across  Mr.  Lyon's  head, 
who  was  sitting  uncovered  and  looking  down  upon  some 
papers  upon  the  desk,  which  stood  between  him  and  Mr.  Gris 
wold.  The  stroke  was  so  sudden  and  unexpected  that  Mr. 
Lyon  did  not  even  make  an  effort  by  raising  up  his  arms  to 
ward  off  the  danger.  Mr.  G.  repeated  his  stroke  before  Mr. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  239 

L.  could  rise  from  his  seat.  Mr.  L.  put  his  cane  between  his 
legs  when  he  first  sat  down,  but  seemed  to  have  lost  it,  as  he 
pressed  forward  unarmed  to  extricate  himself  from  the  chairs 
and  desks  with  which  he  was  surrounded.  Mr.  G.  continued 
his  assault  during  the  favorable  opportunity  furnished  by  Mr. 
L.'s  embarrassed  situation,  and  gave  several  severe  strokes, 
one  of  which  visibly  staggered  him.  As  soon  as  Mr.  L.  had 
got  into  the  open  area  before  the  Speaker's  chair,  he  attempted 
to  close  with  Mr.  G.,  but  finding  this  not  easily  effected,  by  the 
wariness  of  his  antagonist,  he  seemed  compelled  to  seek  for 
arms  that  should  put  him  more  on  a  level  with  Mr.  G.  With 
this  view  he  passed  on  to  the  nearest  fireplace,  followed  by  Mr. 
G.  who  continued  striking.  At  length  Mr.  L.  seized  the  fire 
tongs  and  proceeded  to  repel  Mr.  G.'s  attack,  but  in  this  he 
was  prevented  by  Mr.  G.  who  quickly  caught  hold  of  the  tongs 
also,  and  made  a  thrust  with  his  cane  at  Mr.  L/s  face.  The 
combatants  now  closed  and  abandoned  their  weapons;  after  a 
short  struggle  they  fell  side  by  side  on  the  floor,  when  several 
other  members  interposed  and  separated  the  combatants.  Mr. 
L.  immediately  expressed  a  wish  that  they  had  been  left  alone 
to  settle  the  matter  in  the  way  Mr.  G.  had  proposed. 

"  A  few  minutes  only  had  intervened  when  by  accident  Mr. 
Lyon  and  Mr.  Griswold  met  at  the  water  table  near  the  south 
east  door.  Mr.  Griswold  was  now  without  any  stick  and  Mr. 
Lyon  had  a  cane  in  his  hand.  Their  eyes  no  sooner  met  than 
Mr.  Lyon  sprang  to  attack  Mr.  Griswold,  who,  stepping  back, 
in  some  measure  avoided  the  blow.  Mr.  G.  continued  to  re 
treat  until  another  cudgel  was  put  into  his  hand  by  Mr.  Sit- 
greaves,  but  on  the  Speaker  and  some  other  members  calling 
to  order,  the  business  terminated  for  the  present. 


240  MATTHEW  LYON 

"  Mr.  Lyon  suffered  considerable  personal  injury  from  the 
blows  he  received  in  the  first  attack.  Mr.  Griswold  appears 
to  have  sustained  little  or  no  bodily  hurt  during  the  whole 
affray." 

From  Peter  Porcupine's  "  Gazette,"  Ultra  Federalist,  Jan 
uary  31,  1798: 

"  Lyon's  Spitting. — A  misrepresentation  of  the  transaction 
which  happened  yesterday  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
between  Mr.  Lyon  and  Mr.  Griswold,  having  been  published 
this  morning  in  the  "  Aurora,"  the  following  more  correct 
statement  of  the  fact  is  handed  to  you,  to  prevent  the  injury 
which  that  misrepresentation  seems  designed  to  do  the  charac 
ter  of  an  injured  man. 

"  Yesterday  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  while  the 
members  were  balloting  for  managers  to  conduct  the  impeach 
ment  of  William  Blount,  Mr.  Lyon,  standing  by  the  bar  of  the 
House,  and  addressing  himself  to  a  circle  of  which  Mr.  Gris 
wold  was  one,  made  the  following  observations, '  That  the  rep 
resentatives  to  Congress  from  the  State  of  Connecticut  were 
conducting  themselves  in  the  House  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
wishes  of  their  constituents ;  that  they  were  pursuing  their  own 
interests,  and  cared  nothing  about  the  public,  their  object  being 
to  obtain  offices  for  themselves;  and  that  it  mattered  not 
whether  the  office  was  worth  one  thousand  or  nine  thousand 
dollars;  that  the  Representatives  of  the  State  were  administer 
ing  opium  to  their  constituents  to  lull  them  asleep ;  and  that  if 
he  should  go  into  that  State  and  take  on  himself  the  manage 
ment  of  a  printing  press  for  six  or  twelve  months,  he  could 
effect  a  revolution,  change  the  whole  politics  of  the  State,  and 
turn  out  the  present  Representatives/ 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  24! 

"  On  which  Mr.  Griswold  replied  to  Mr.  Lyon  that  he  was 
much  mistaken;  for  he  could  not  produce  the  effect  if  he  should 
go  into  Connecticut,  or  change  the  opinion  of  the  meanest 
hostler. 

"  Mr.  Lyon  said  he  knew  the  temper  of  the  people  of  Con 
necticut;  he  had  to  fight  them  in  his  own  district  whenever 
they  came  there.  Mr.  Griswold  asked  him  whether  he  fought 
them  with  a  wooden  sword?  Upon  which  Mr.  Lyon  spit  in 
Mr.  Griswold's  face. 

"  Mr.  Griswold  from  respect  to  the  House,  and  being  in 
stantly  cautioned  by  some  of  his  friends,  repressed  his  indigna 
tion. 

"  The  public  are  extremely  anxious  to  know,  whether  it  was 
tobacco  juice  or  natural  saliva,  that  the  Hon.  Matthew  Lyon, 
Esq.,  squirted  into  the  face  of  his  brother  legislator.  Next 
after  this  important  point,  we  Philadelphians  all  want  to  have 
out  the  whole  history  of  the  wooden  sword.  There  is  certainly 
something  at  the  bottom  of  this  story,  that  the  Honorable 
Member  wishes  to  keep  in  oblivion.  For,  let  the  reader  ask 
himself,  whether  a  gentle  hint,  like  that  of  Mr.  Griswold,  was 
calculated  to  awaken  resentment  in  anyone  to  whom  it  was  not 
applicable,  and  in  whose  mind  it  did  not  revive  something  that 
he  was  very  anxious  to  keep  hidden  from  the  world.  But  I 
pray  some  one  to  send  me  the  history  of  the  dagger  of  lath; 
then  we  shall  have  facts,  and  not  reasoning,  to  judge  from. 

"  Matthew  Lyon  came  from  Ireland.  He  not  long  ago 
drank  '  Success  to  the  United  Irishmen,'  then  in  open  rebellion 
against  their  King,  and  he  spit  in  the  face  of  an  American  Mem 
ber  of  Congress" 

Let  me  interrupt  Mr.  Cobbett's  unapproachable  strain  of 


242  MATTHEW  LYON 

scurrility  right  here,  in  order  to  quote  another  but  far  inferior 
defamer  upon  Mr.  Jefferson.  Carpenter  scoured  the  land  in 
his  search  for  slanders  against  the  founder  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  quotes  the  following  toast  offered  by  Jefferson,  then 
Vice-President,  at  a  meeting  in  Charlottesville,  Va.,  as  an  ad 
ditional  token  of  reproach: 

"  Ireland,  may  she  soon  burst  her  fetters,  and  take  her  rank 
among  the  free  republics  of  the  earth."a  I  resume  Cobbett, 
for  the  reader  must  not  be  deprived  of  Porcupine's  superb 
mendacities. 

"  Lyon.  Yesterday  the  House  of  Representatives  came  to 
a  decision  on  the  filthy  conduct  of  this  spitting  hero.  An 
amendment  was  proposed  by  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Lyon  (for, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  supporters  he  has)  the  object  of  which 
was  to  substitute  a  reprimand  in  place  of  expulsion.  This  was 
rejected  by  the  gentlemen  with  disdain.  They  very  truly  said, 
that  to  punish  such  an  odious,  such  a  base  offence,  in  so  slight 
a  manner,  would  be  infinitely  worse  than  doing  nothing  at  all, 
as  it  would,  in  some  sort,  be  giving  a  sanction  to  brutality. 

"  The  original  resolution  for  expulsion  was  then  put  when 
there  appeared  52  for  it,  and  44  against  it ;  and  as  the  Constitu 
tion  requires,  that,  to  expel  a  member  there  shall  be  a  majority 
of  two-thirds,  the  resolution  was  lost;  and  it  was  determined 
that  the  man  of  spittle  should,  unpunished  and  uncensured,  still 
sit  as  a  member  of  the  Congress,  or,  as  the  Abbe  de  Mably 
calls  it,  '  the  grand  Amphyctionic  Council  of  the  New  World ! ' 
Ave  Amphyctionia!  Would  to  Heaven  the  enthusiastic  Abbe- 
were  now  alive  1 

"  The  filthy  affair  of  Lyon  as  far  as  relates  to  the  discussions 

0  Carpenter's  "  Life  of  Jefferson,"  II,  p.  298. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  243 

of  the  House  of  Representatives,  is  now  over.  His  supporters, 
his  friends,  and  his  equals,  though  they  provoked  the  examina 
tion  of  evidences  before  the  House,  were  extremely  anxious  to 
avoid  debate  on  the  subject.  They  wished  to  keep  the  thing 
as  much  as  possible  hidden  from  their  constituents,  as  well  as 
from  the  world  in  general;  and  it  is  for  this  very  reason,  that  I 
have  resolved,  if  it  please  God  to  grant  me  life,  to  make  the 
whole  business  as  notorious  as  the  courage  of  Alexander,  or 
the  cruelty  of  Nero.  For  this  purpose,  I  will  publish  in  my 
paper,  once  a  fortnight  as  long  as  I  publish  it  (if  that  be  for 
fifty  years),  a  sort  of  record  in  manner  and  form  following,  to 
wit: 

"  Be  it  remembered  that  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thou 
sand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-eight  (the  close  of  the  '  en 
lightened  eighteenth  century '),  one  Matthew  Lyon,  an  Irish 
man,  and  a  furious  Democrat,  was  sent  to  Philadelphia  by  the 
enlightened  republicans  of  Vermont,  to  represent  them  in  the 
Congress  there  assembled.  That  on  the  3Oth  day  of  January 
in  the  enlightened  year  aforesaid,  the  said  Lyon  did,  in  the  Con 
gress  Hall,  while  the  House  was  in  actual  session,  spit  the 
nauseous  slime  from  his  jaws  into  the  face  of  Roger  Griswold, 
a  member  from  Connecticut.  And  further,  that  the  said  Lyon, 
in  justifying  his  said  conduct,  did  (he  being  then  speaking  be 
fore  and  to  the  House)  utter  these  words :  *  *  *  meaning 
thereby  the  posteriors,  or  hinder  parts  of  him  the  said 
Lyon. 

"  In  consequence  of  this  decent  conduct  and  polite  language, 
so  highly  honorable  to  democracy,  and  to  the  enlightened  cen 
tury  aforesaid,  a  resolution  was  offered  for  expelling  the  said 
spitter  from  the  House.  That  an  inquiry  took  place,  in  which 


244  MATTHEW    LYON 

it  was  proven  that  he,  the  said  Lyon  from  Vermont,  was,  dur 
ing  the  American  war  cashiered  by  General  Gates,  for  desert 
ing  his  post. 

"  And  be  it  further  remembered,  that  Nicholas  of  Virginia, 
Williams  of  North  Carolina,  Smith  of  Baltimore,  Gallatin  of 
Geneva,  Livingston  of  New  York,  and  several  others  (all  of 
them  of  the  Democratic  party),  did  actually  make  and  utter 
speeches  in  favor  of  the  said  Lyon.  That  the  resolution,  after 
fourteen  days  spent  thereon,  was  put  to  the  vote,  when  there 
appeared  fifty-two  for  expulsion,  and  forty-four  against  it;  and 
that  as  the  Constitution  requires  a  majority  of  two-thirds  to 
expel  a  member,  the  said  Lyon,  of  course,  was  not  expelled,  but 
kept  his  seat  in  Congress  as  before. 

"  And  whereas  it  is  just  that  the  said  forty-four  men  who 
voted  in  favor  of  the  said  Lyon,  and  by  whose  means  he  was 
kept  in  the  said  Congress,  should  be  made  known  to  their  con 
stituents  and  to  the  universe,  and  also  that  the  memory  of  their 
conduct  should  be  perpetuated,  and  handed  down  to  their 
children,  if,  perchance,  they  may  have  any;  to  these  ends  their 
names,  with  the  States  they  represent,  are  hereunder  enregis- 
tered,  to  wit: 

Massachusetts — Freeman  Pennsylvania —  Bard 

Skinner  Findley 

Varnum  Gallatin 

New  York —      Elmendorf  Gregg 

Havens  Hanna 

Livingston  McClenahan 

Van  Cortlandt  Maryland —        S.  Smith 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS 


245 


Maryland —        Sprigg  N.  Carolina —     Blount 

Virginia —  Brent  Bryan 

Cabel  Gillespie 

T.  Claiborne  Locke 

Clay  Macon 

Clopton  McDowell 

Dawson  Stanford 

Giles  R.  Williams 

Harrison  S.  Carolina —      Benton 

Jones  W.  Smith 

New  Sumter 

Nicholas  Georgia —  Baldwin 

A.  Trigg  Milledge 

J.  Trigg  Kentucky —        Fowler 

Venable  Tennessee —       W.Claiborne."a 

Two  weeks  later  Cobbett  changed  his  lamentations  to  rejoic 
ings.  The  reader  will  now  find  this  guardian  of  the  good 
order  and  dignity  of  the  House  suddenly  converted  into  a 
partisan  of  free  fighting  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  and  an  apolo 
gist  of  the  most  disgraceful  scene  of  rough  and  tumble  pugil 
ism  and  disorder,  with  cudgel  and  tongs  accompaniments, 
which  has  ever  taken  place  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
throughout  the  entire  history  of  the  country.  This  eloquent 
scold  fairly  screams  his  exultation  over  Griswold's  assault. 
From  Porcupine's  "  Gazette/'  February  16,  1798: 
"  A  Burning  Shame.  The  affair  which  took  place  in  Con 
gress  yesterday  was  but  imperfectly  related  in  my  '  Gazette  ' 
of  last  night.  I  shall  therefore  now  endeavor  to  give  it  more 
in  detail. 


0  "  Porcupine's  Works/ 
87-90. 


by  William  Cobbett,  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  68-70, 


246  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  After  the  House  had  decided  that  nothing  should  be  done 
to  Lyon  for  spitting  in  Mr.  Griswold's  face,  it  seems  that  the 
former  had  the  prudence  to  avoid  the  sight  of  the  latter  till  yes 
terday,  when  he  came  and  took  his  seat.  He  was  sitting  alone, 
involved  in  deep  contemplation,  when  Mr.  Griswold  first  spied 
him.  No  sooner  did  this  happen  than  he  caught  up  a  thick 
hickory  stick,  made  towards  the  man  of  spittle,  and,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  without  giving  him  time  either  to  eject  his 

saliva  or  say  '  My /  began  to  belabor  him.     Poor  Lyon 

got  out  of  his  seat,  made  at  his  assailant,  and  endeavored  to 
grapple  with  him;  but  the  supple  New  Englander,  who  is  as 
active  as  he  is  strong,  beat  him  from  him  with  his  left  hand, 
while  he  thrashed  him  with  the  right;  and  thus  did  the  member 
from  Vermont  receive  a  shower  of  blows,  such  as  never  fell  on 
the  devoted  hide  of  Don  Quixote  or  his  continent  steed 
Rozinante.  You  must  needs  think  the  man  was  not  very  much 
at  his  ease  in  this  situation.  He  ran  to  the  fire  place  and 
catched  up  a  pair  of  tongs  (just  like  a  lady),  and  attempted  to 
use  them;  but  his  antagonist  presently  disarmed  him,  and  con 
tinued  to  beat  away  with  as  regular  a  stroke  as  did  the  drum 
mers  of  General  Gates,  on  a  former  occasion.  At  last  Lyon 
made  shift  to  close  with  him,  when  Mr.  Griswold  immediately 
kicked  him  up,  and  made  him  measure  his  length  on  the  floor. 
Here  several  gentlemen  came  up  and  took  off  the  enraged  New 
Englander,  or  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  would  have 
continued  to  pummel  away  for  some  time  longer. 

"The  poor  man  of  saliva  was  most  dreadfully  cut  and 
bruised;  and  had  not  Nature  (foreseeing  perhaps  this  ren 
counter)  taken  particular  care  to  fortify  his  head,  it  must  have 
been  smashed  to  pieces.  It  is  said  that  several  connoiseurs 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  247 

from  the  West  Indies  and  from  the  Southward,  have  declared 
that  never  negro  suffered  such  a  drubbing. 

u  Lyon  stopped  an  hour  or  two  to  wash  and  bathe,  and  then 
retired  from  the  House  accompanied  by  his  friend  and  country 
man  Blair  McClenachan.  They  walked  down  towards  Fourth 
street,  followed  by  a  crowd  of  boys;  and  would  you  believe  it, 
the  naughty  little  rascals  hallooed  and  shouted,  '  There  goes 
the  Lion  and  Blair! '  Whatever  may  be  said  or  thought  of  the 
rib-roasting,  I  am  persuaded  that  everyone  will  agree  with  me, 
that  it  is  highly  disgraceful  to  the  police  of  Philadelphia,  that 
these  little  blackguards  be  allowed  thus  to  follow  and  mock  a 
member  of  Congress,  like  so  many  small  birds  at  an  owl  that 
happens  to  change  her  roost  by  daylight."0 

When  writing  this  choice  specimen  of  billingsgate,  Cobbett 
probably  forgot  all  about  the  Abbe  de  Mably  and  the  "  grand 
Amphyctionic  Council  of  the  New  World."  Griswold  had 
turned  it  into  a  bear  garden.  And  although  when  Lyon's  mis 
conduct  was  the  subject  of  criticism  we  have  seen  Peter  Porcu 
pine  spreading  his  quills,  and  have  heard  his  exclamation 
"  Would  to  Heaven  the  enthusiastic  Abbe  were  now  alive!" 
nevertheless  when  Griswold's  deliberate  riot  occurred,  our 
fickle  censor  throws  the  Abbe  overboard,  and  becomes  the 
chief  fugleman  of  a  Congressional  bully  and  bruiser. 

Two  incidents  of  this  fierce  fight  plainly  revealed  the  charac 
ter  of  each  man,  and  therefore  call  for  particular  remark. 
When  Griswold  stealthily  approached  and  assailed  Lyon  with 
a  stout  hickory  stick,  Lyon  never  flinched,  but  unarmed  as  he 
was  rose  up  from  his  seat,  and,  even  Cobbett  admits,  he  "  made 
at  his  assailant  and  endeavored  to  grapple  with  him."  But 

« Ibid.,  pp.  90-92- 


248  MATTHEW   LYON 

after  Lyon  had  regained  his  ordinary  walking  cane  and  met 
Griswold  at  the  water  cooler,  the  latter  now  being  without  his 
bludgeon,  Lyon  advanced  and  Griswold  retreated  before  him, 
receiving  but  not  turning  to  repel  a  stroke  over  the  shoulders 
from  Lyon's  cane.  "  Mr.  G.  continued  to  retreat/'  says  one  of 
the  Federal  accounts  I  have  quoted,  "  until  another  cudgel  was 
put  in  his  hand  by  Mr.  Sitgreaves."  Courage  and  cowardice 
have  seldom  been  more  sharply  contrasted. 

From  the  Annals  of  the  Fifth  Congress.* 
BREACH  OF  PRIVILEGE. 

"  Tuesday,  January  30,  1798. 

"  Mr.  Sewall  said  he  believed  the  business  which  he  had  to 
lay  before  the  House  would  require  secrecy,  as  it  was  a  subject 
which  would  considerably  affect  the  feelings  of  the  members 
of  the  House.  He  therefore  moved  that  the  galleries  might  be 
cleared;  which  was  accordingly  done,  excepting  the  members 
and  the  Clerk. 

"  Mr.  Sewall  then  stated,  that  he  had  been  informed,  in  a 
manner  which  left  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  the  fact,  that  in  the 
presence  of  the  House  whilst  sitting,  Matthew  Lyon,  a  member 
from  the  State  of  Vermont,  did  this  day  commit  a  violent 
attack  and  gross  indecency  upon  the  person  of  Roger  Gris 
wold,  another  member  of  this  House;  and,  in  order  to  bring 
the  subject  before  the  House,  that  he  had  prepared  a  resolu 
tion,  which  he  read  in  his  place,  and  delivered  in  at  the  Clerk's 
table.  A  question  was  then  taken  in  the  following  words: 
Does  the  matter  so  communicated  require  secrecy? 

"  This  motion  passed  unanimously  in  the  negative,  and  the 
galleries  were  opened. 

a  Pp-  955  ^  seq.  to  1067. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  249 

"  The  House  then  proceeded  to  consider  the  motion  made 
by  the  member  from  Massachusetts,  which  was  read,  as  fol 
lows: 

"  '  Resolved,  That  Matthew  Lyon,  a  member  of  this  House, 
for  a  violent  attack  and  gross  indecency  committed  upon  the 
person  of  Roger  Griswold,  another  member,  in  the  presence 
of  this  House,  whilst  sitting,  be,  for  this  disorderly  behaviour 
expelled  therefrom.' 

"  It  was  moved  that  this  resolution  be  referred  to  a  com 
mittee  to  be  denominated  a  Committee  of  Privileges,  with  in 
structions  to  inquire  into  the  whole  matter  of  the  said  resolu 
tion,  and  to  report  the  same  with  their  opinion  thereon  to  the 
House. 

"  The  question  was  taken  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  decided  in 
the  affirmative — 49  to  44. 

"  Ordered,  That  Messrs.  Pinckney,  Venable,  Kittera,  Isaac 
Parker,  R.  Williams,  Cochran,  and  Dent,  be  a  committee  for 
the  purpose. 

"  A  motion  was  then  made  that  the  House  come  to  the  fol 
lowing  resolution: 

" '  Resolved,  That  this  House  will  consider  it  a  high  breach 
of  privilege  if  either  of  the  members  shall  enter  into  any  per 
sonal  contest  until  a  decision  of  the  House  shall  be  had 
thereon/ 

"  A  motion  was  made  to  add  the  following  words  to  the  end 
thereof: 

"  '  And  that  the  said  Matthew  Lyon  be  considered  in  the 
custody  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  until  the  further  order  of  the 
House.' 

"  The  yeas  and  nays  were  taken  upon  this  question  and  de 
cided  in  the  negative — 29  to  62. 


250  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  This  motion  being  negatived,  the  sense  of  the  House  was 
then  taken  on  the  main  question,  as  originally  offered,  and  it 
was  carried. 

"Thursday,  February  I. 


"  Mr.  Venable  said,  he  was  directed  by  the  Committee  of 
Privileges  to  inform  the  House,  that  the  Chairman  of  that 
Committee  (Mr.  Pinckney)  was  yesterday  taken  ill,  and  was 
unable  to  attend  to  the  business  referred  to  them ;  that  the  com 
mittee  had  this  morning  received  a  note  from  Mr.  P.  stating, 
that  he  was  still  too  much  indisposed  to  attend  to  business; 
they,  therefore,  wished  him  to  ask  for  the  appointment  of 
another  member  in  his  place. 

"  The  motion  being  agreed  to,  the  Speaker  nominated  Mr. 
Rutledge. 

"  Mr.  Venable  then  added,  that  he  was  also  requested  to  ask 
leave  of  the  House  to  sit  during  the  session.  Leave  was 
granted. 

"  The  Speaker  informed  the  House  that  he  had  received  a 
letter  from  a  member  from  Vermont,  which  he  was  requested 
to  lay  before  them. 

"  To  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives : 

"  Sir:  As  the  attention  of  the  House  of  Representatives  has 
been  called  to  my  conduct  in  a  dispute  with  Mr.  Griswold,  on  a 
suggestion  of  its  being  a  violation  of  the  order  of  the  House, 
and  the  respect  due  to  it  from  all  its  members,  I  feel  it  in 
cumbent  upon  me  to  obviate  the  imputation  of  intentional  dis 
respect.  Permit  me,  sir,  through  you,  to  assure  the  House  of 
Representatives  that  I  feel  as  much  as  any  of  its  members  the 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  251 

necessity  of  preserving  the  utmost  decorum  in  its  proceedings ; 
that  I  am  incapable  of  an  intentional  violation  of  its  rules ;  and 
that,  if,  in  the  present  instance,  I  am  chargeable  of  a  disregard 
of  them,  it  is  owing  wholly  to  my  ignorance  of  their  extent, 
and  that  the  House  of  Representatives  claimed  any  superinten 
dence  over  its  members  when  not  formally  constituted, 
and  when  they  are  not  engaged  in  actual  business.  If  I  have 
been  mistaken  in  my  understanding  on  this  subject,  I  beg  the 
House  to  believe  that  my  fault  has  been  without  intention,  and 
that  I  am  very  sorry  I  have  deserved  its  censure.  I  am,  sir, 

your  obedient  servant, 

"MATTHEW  LYON. 
"February  I,  1798." 

"  Mr.  Nicholas  moved  that  the  letter  be  referred  to  the  com 
mittee  who  have  this  subject  under  consideration.  Agreed  to. 

"  Friday,  February  2. 

"  Mr.  Venable,  from  the  Committee  of  Privileges,  made  the 
following  report. 

"  The  Committee  of  Privileges,  to  whom  was  referred  a  reso 
lution  on  the  30th  of  January,  charging  Matthew  Lyon  with 
disorderly  behavior,  with  instructions  to  inquire  into  the  whole 
matter  thereof,  and  to  report  the  same,  with  their  opinion,  to 
the  House,  having  examined  several  witnesses  on  oath  touch 
ing  the  subject,  report:  That,  during  the  sitting  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  on  the  3Oth  day  of  January,  1798,  the  tellers 
of  the  House  being  engaged  in  counting  the  ballots  for 
managers  of  the  impeachment  against  William  Blount,  the 
Speaker  had  left  his  chair,  and  many  members  their  seats,  as  is 
usual  on  such  occasions ;  the  Speaker  was  sitting  in  one  of  the 
member's  seats,  next  to  the  bar  of  the  House,  and  several  mem 
bers  near  him,  of  whom  Mr.  Griswold  was  one. 


252  MATTHEW    LYON 

"  Mr.  Lyon  was  standing  without  the  bar  of  the  House,  lean 
ing  on  the  same,  and  holding  a  conversation  with  the  Speaker. 
He  spoke  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by  all  those  who  were  near 
him,  as  if  he  intended  to  be  heard  by  them.  The  subject  of  his 
conversation  was,  the  conduct  of  the  Representatives  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut,  (of  whom  Mr.  Griswold  was  one). 
Mr.  Lyon  declared  that  they  acted  in  opposition  to  the  inter 
ests  and  opinions  of  nine-tenths  of  their  constituents;  and  they 
were  pursuing  their  own  private  views,  without  regarding  the 
interests  of  the  people;  that  they  were  seeking  offices,  which 
they  were  willing  to  accept  whether  yielding  $9,000  or  $1,000. 
He  further  observed  that  the  people  of  that  State  were  blinded 
or  deceived  by  those  Representatives ;  that  they  were  permitted 
to  see  but  one  side  of  the  question  in  politics,  being  lulled 
asleep  by  the  opiates  which  the  members  from  that  State  ad 
ministered  to  them;  with  other  expressions  equally  tending  to 
derogate  from  the  political  integrity  of  the  Representatives  of 
Connecticut. 

"  On  Mr.  Lyon's  observing,  that  if  he  should  go  into  Con 
necticut,  and  manage  a  press  there  six  months,  although  the 
people  of  that  State  were  not  fond  of  revolutionary  principles, 
he  could  effect  a  revolution,  and  turn  out  the  present  Represen 
tatives.  Mr.  Griswold  replied  to  these  remarks,  and  amongst 
other  things,  said,  "  If  you  go  into  Connecticut,  you  had  better 
wear  your  wooden  sword,"  or  words  to  that  effect,  alluding  to 
Mr.  Lyon's  having  been  cashiered  in  the  army. 

"  Mr.  Lyon  did  not  notice  the  allusion  at  this  time,  but  con 
tinued  the  conversation  on  the  same  subject.  Mr.  Griswold 
then  left  his  seat,  and  stood  next  to  Mr.  Lyon,  leaning  on  the 
bar,  being  outside  the  same. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  253 

"  On  Mr.  Lyon's  saying  he  knew  the  people  of  Connecticut 
well,  having  lived  among  them  many  years — that  he  had  fre 
quent  occasion  to  fight  them  in  his  own  district,  and  that  he 
never  failed  to  convince  them — Mr.  Griswold  asked  if  he 
fought  them  with  his  wooden  sword,  on  which  Mr.  Lyon  spat 
in  his  face. 

"  The  committee  having  attentively  considered  the  foregoing 
statement  of  facts,  and  having  heard  Mr.  Lyon  in  his  defence, 
are  of  the  opinion  that  his  conduct  in  this  transaction  was 
highly  indecorous,  and  unworthy  of  a  member  of  this  House. 

"  They,  therefore,  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  resolution 
submitted  to  their  consideration  by  the  House,  in  the  words 
following,  to  wit: 

" '  Resolved,  That  Matthew  Lyon,  a  member  of  this  House, 
for  a  violent  attack  and  gross  indecency  committed  upon  the 
person  of  Roger  Griswold,  another  member,  in  the  presence  of 
the  House  while  sitting,  be  for  this  disorderly  behavior  ex 
pelled  therefrom.' 

"  The  report  having  been  read, 

"  Mr.  Lyon  said,  he  did  not  think  the  evidence  was  stated  in 
its  full  extent  in  this  report.  He  wished,  therefore,  before  the 
House  proceeded  in  the  business,  they  would  hear  the  evidence 
themselves. 

"  Mr.  Harper  inquired  of  the  Speaker  whether  that  was  the 
usual  mode  of  proceeding? 

"  Mr.  Speaker  said,  it  was  necessary  first  to  take  up  the  re 
port  for  a  second  reading. 

"  Mr.  Macon  observed  that  this  was  a  very  delicate  and  a 
very  serious  question,  as  it  related  to  one  of  the  members  of 
that  House,  and  as  it  respected  the  dignity  of  the  House  itself. 


254  MATTHEW   LYON 

He  hoped,  therefore,  the  report  would  be  printed,  that  some 
time  would  be  given  to  consider  it,  and  that  the  House  would 
themselves  hear  the  testimony.  The  punishment  which  the 
report  proposed  was  equal  to  death  itself.  He  hoped,  there 
fore,  it  would  not  be  acted  upon  hastily,  but  made  the  order  for 
the  day  for  Monday. 

"  Mr.  Harper  did  not  wish  to  press  the  business  in  an  im 
proper  manner,  as  it  was  certainly  of  great  importance  to  a 
member  of  that  House,  to  the  House  itself,  and  to  the  dignity 
of  the  country.  It  was  usual  to  have  all  reports  of  any  con 
sequence  printed,  and  a  day  or  two  given  for  consideration. 
He  was  not  himself  desirous  of  delay,  as  he  was  at  present 
ready  to  vote  upon  the  question ;  but,  if  other  members  wished 
it,  he  should  not  object  to  the  motion  proposed  by  the  gentle 
man  from  North  Carolina. 

"  Mr.  Nicholas  took  it  for  granted,  that,  whenever  this  sub 
ject  came  up,  the  House  would  think  it  necessary  to  go  into  an 
examination  of  the  witnesses  themselves,  and  not  rely  upon  the 
manner  in  which  their  testimony  had  struck  others.  He 
thought  it  would  be  best,  therefore,  whilst  the  report  was  print 
ing,  to  go  on  in  the  examination  of  witnesses. 

"  The  question  for  postponing  till  Monday  was  put  and 

carried. 

"  Monday,  February  5. 

"  Mr.  Sewall  moved  the  House  to  take  up  the  report  of  the 
Committee  of  Privileges,  in  order  that  it  might  be  committed 
to  a  Committee  of  the  Whole. 

"  The  Chairman  informed  the  Committee  that  the  judge  of 
the  District  Court  was  in  the  House. 

"  Judge  Peters  was  accordingly  called  upon. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  255 

"  Mr.  Rutledge  desired  an  oath  might  be  administered  to 
the  Speaker,  Messrs.  S.  Smith,  Brooks,  Hosmer,  Coit,  Dana 
Goodrich  and  Champlin;  which  was  accordingly  done. 

"  Thursday,  February  6. 

"  Mr.  Lyon  understood  General  Sumter,  from  South  Caro 
lina,  could  give  some  information  to  the  committee;  he  re 
quested,  therefore,  he  might  be  sworn. 

"  Mr.  Sumter  declared  he  knew  nothing  of  the  business,  ex 
cept  what  he  had  heard  from  Mr.  Lyon  soon  after  the  affair 
happened. 

"  It  was  at  length  agreed  that  that  precise  question  should  be 
put  to  Mr.  Sumter,  viz :  ' Whether  Mr.  Lyon  told  him  that  he 
heard  Mr.  Griswold  address  him  twice  on  the  subject  of  the 
wooden  sword?'  which  Mr.  Sumter  answered  in  the  affirma 
tive. 

"  Thursday,  February  8. 

"  Mr.  Lyon  then  rose  and  spoke  as  follows : 

"  Mr.  Chairman :  I  feel  myself  extraordinarily  circum 
stanced,  and  accidentally  drawn  into  a  very  serious  situation, 
merely  by  my  ignorance  of  the  House  of  Representatives  being 
likely  to  take  cognizance  of  an  affair  that  happened  when  the 
members  of  the  House  were  at  their  amusement  and  recrea 
tion;  when  every  one  was  doing  that  which  was  right  in  his 
own  eyes.  How  much  I  was  supported  in  this  opinion  by  the 
conduct  of  the  Speaker,  every  gentleman  may  see  by  his  testi 
mony.  He  sat  in  a  chair  within  the  bar  facing  me  as  I  stood 
without  it.  He  spoke  to  me  of  my  country,  and  the  conduct 
of  some  people  there  concerning  the  stamp  act;  it  appears  I 
turned  the  conversation  towards  Connecticut;  it  appears  I  had 
four  or  five  other  gentlemen's  wit  and  raillery  to  bear,  and  this 


256  MATTHEW   LYON 

in  the  hearing  of  the  Speaker.  Does  this  look  like  the  House 
being  sitting? 

"  How  could  I  imagine  this  House  was  sitting,  when  the 
Speaker  suffered  me  to  be  interrupted  when  speaking  to  him, 
by  the  remarks  and  jokes  of  four  or  five  gentlemen? 

"  How  could  I  imagine  the  House  was  sitting,  when  the 
Speaker  was  joking  me  about  an  embassy  to  Kamtschatka 
among  the  fur  tribe? 

"  How  could  I  imagine  the  House  was  sitting,  when  I  heard, 
and  knew  the  Speaker  heard,  Mr.  Griswold  insult  me,  without 
checking  him? 

"  How  could  I  imagine  the  House  to  be  sitting,  when  the 
Speaker  suffered  Mr.  Griswold  to  proceed  a  second  time  with 
the  most  provoking  insolence? 

"  Had  the  House  been  sitting,  I  should  not  have  been  called 
on  by  Mr.  Dana,  with  respect  to  something  Mr.  Williams  had 
said;  consequently  I  should  not  have  entered  into  a  conversa 
tion  about  Connecticut ;  the  Speaker  would  not  have  spoken  to 
me  of  Vermont,  and  I  should  not  again  have  turned  the  subject 
to  Connecticut,  and  Mr.  Griswold  would  have  postponed  his 
premeditated  insult — premeditated,  I  say,  because  it  has  been 
proved  that  he  had  notice  of  my  feelings  and  my  determination 
on  this  subject. 

"  Is  it  proper  to  say  the  House  was  sitting,  while  half  the 
members  were  standing  round  the  table,  while  two-thirds  of  the 
other  half  were  walking  round  the  bar,  the  Speaker  engaged  in 
jocular  conversation  or  writing  letters? 

"  But,  Mr.  Chairman,  it  seems,  by  the  course  this  business 
has  taken  in  the  committee,  that  I  am  to  be  criminated  for 
holding  an  indelicate  or  impolite  conversation  within  the  hear- 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  257 

ing  of  the  gentlemen  from  Connecticut.  Every  one  knows 
that  there  are  two  different  opinions  entertained  in  this  country 
with  respect  to  the  management  of  the  Government,  and  every 
one  who  knows  me,  knows  that  I  am  very  free  in  speaking  my 
opinion  on  these  subjects.  There  are  many,  and  I  believe 
some  in  this  House  who  know  something  of  the  rough,  illiberal 
manner  in  which  I  have  been  treated  in  the  New  England 
newspapers,  on  account  of  my  political  opinions ;  and  I  believe 
there  are  many  persons  in  this  House  who  are  well  acquainted 
with  the  kind  of  politeness  which  the  gentlemen  from  Con 
necticut  make  use  of  towards  their  opponents;  and  some  are 
acquainted  with  the  share  of  politeness  whicfi  those  gentlemen 
deserve  from  me. 

"  If  the  House  are  at  a  loss  on  this  subject,  they  will,  I  hope, 
recur  to  the  language  made  use  of  by  Mr.  Coit  and  Mr.  Dana, 
in  their  testimony;  and  the  House,  I  believe,  will  recollect  a 
speech  from  a  gentleman  who  sits  behind  me,  in  which  he  told 
the  committee  twice  or  three  times  that  I  was  no  gentleman. 

"  Again,  I  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  very  extraordinarily 
situated.  Evidence  has  been  introduced  into  this  House  to 
induce  the  members  to  believe  that  I  left  Colonel  Warner's 
regiment  with  dishonor;  that  I  am  a  person  of  disrepute;  that 
I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  receiving  insult  with  impunity. 
Here  I  am,  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  home,  and  from 
the  evidence  who  are  able  to  show  the  contrary.  Had  I  a 
reasonable  opportunity,  I  could  prove,  by  the  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  who  is  now  General  Safford,  and  several  other  officers 
of  that  regiment,  that  when  I  left  it,  I  left  it  with  the  regret  of 
much  of  the  greater  part  of  the  officers  and  all  the  soldiers — I 
mention  the  Lieutenant-Colonel  because  Colonel  Warner  is 


258  MATTHEW  LYON 

not  living.  My  certificate  of  having  settled  my  accounts, 
which  is  at  home,  would  prove  my  having  done  my  duty  well. 

"  I  could  prove  my  having  taken  my  musket  and  marched  to 
the  lines  every  day,  during  the  siege  of  Burgoyne.  I  should 
not  have  mentioned  this  circumstnce,  had  not  the  Speaker 
mentioned  his  having  done  so  when  Paymaster. 

"  I  could  also  prove,  that  when  an  officer  offered  me  an  in 
sult,  I  chastised  him  before  the  officers  of  that  regiment. 

"  (Mr.  Champlin  asked  whether  the  gentleman  said  he  had 
chastised  an  officer,  or  would  chastise  him? 

"  Mr.  Lyon  answered  that  he  had  chastised  him.) 

"  I  could  prove  that  I  took  the  commission  in  Colonel  War 
ner's  regiment  when  I  was  driven  from  my  plantation  by  Bur- 
goyne's  invasion ;  that  I  resigned  my  appointment,  and  left  the 
regiment  for  the  care  of  my  family,  for  preferment,  for  honor, 
for  superior  office,  and  to  serve  the  people  of  the  State  of  Ver 
mont. 

"  I  could  prove,  had  I  opportunity,  that  I  was  immediately 
appointed  Deputy  Secretary  of  the  State,  Paymaster  of  the 
troops  of  Vermont,  assistant  to  the  Treasurer,  assistant  to  the 
Commissioner  of  Loans,  and  Captain  of  the  Militia,  besides 
being  called  on  to  act  as  Private  Secretary  to  the  Governor. 

"  I  could  also  prove  that  within  two  years  from  the  time  of 
that  resignation,  I  was  appointed  Secretary  to  the  Governor 
and  Council,  a  Member  of  the  Legislature,  Clerk  of  the  House 
of  Assembly,  one  of  a  Committee  for  the  Collection  and  Revis 
ion  of  Laws,  and  to  a  number  of  other  offices  under  the 
authority  of  that  State,  besides  a  considerable  number  of 
offices  in  the  municipal  establishment  of  the  town  in  which  I 
lived,  as  well  as  my  promotion  to  the  command  of  a  regiment, 


THE   HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  259 

and  all  this  before  I  formed  a  connexion  with  one  of  the  most 
respectable  families  in  that  State.  I  could  prove  also,  that  I 
have  been  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Vermont,  except  two 
years,  ever  since;  that  I  have  been  appointed  to  many  other 
offices  in  which  I  did  not  think  proper  to  serve,  such  as  Audi- 
'  tor  of  the  Treasurer's  Accounts,  and  Judge  of  the  county  where 
I  live. 

"  By  these  things,  and  by  my  standing  in  this  House,  I  could 
prove  that  I  have  always  been  respected  in  the  country  I  repre 
sent,  and  where  I  have  lived  these  twenty-four  years. 

"  The  free  electors  of  my  district  have  given  me  a  preference 
to  a  gentleman  of  very  great  respectability,  one  who  has  served 
six  years  with  unimpeachable  fidelity  in  this  House,  and  is  now 
Chief  Justice  of  the  State  of  Vermont;  yet  evidence  has  been 
adduced  in  order  to  show  that  I  am  a  person  of  disrepute. 

"  As  to  my  being  in  the  habit  of  receiving  insult  with  im 
punity — for  which  it  seems  Mr.  Chipman's  testimony  was  in 
troduced — were  I  allowed  to  call  testimony  from  Vermont,  I 
could  very  easily  prove  so  much  on  this  head,  as,  perhaps,  to 
prove,  in  the  minds  of  some  gentlemen,  that  respectability 
which,  in  every  other  respect,  attaches  to  my  character. 
Among  other  things  I  could  prove  that  the  gentleman  from 
?  Vermont  who  was  called  to  give  testimony  against  me,  has, 
with  the  politeness  peculiar  to  a  certain  country  which  I  will 
not  now  name,  insulted  me  and  received  due  chastisement  for 
it. 

"Mr.  Harper  called  to  order.  The  gentleman  from  Ver 
mont  had  already  spoken  very  improperly  of  witnesses,  and  he 
now  spoke  in  a  very  reprehensible  way  of  Mr.  Chipman.  He 
hoped  he  would  be  admonished. 


26O  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  Mr.  Otis  differed  in  opinion  from  the  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina. 

"  If  the  gentleman  thought  it  would  be  of  service  to  him  to 
inform  the  committee  that  he  had  chastised  an  officer  in  the 
face  of  his  regiment,  or  beaten  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
he  was  right  in  stating  the  circumstances. 

"  Mr.  Lyon.  It  would  be  folly  in  me  to  state  anything  to 
this  committee  that  I  cannot  prove.  Nor  should  I  have  men 
tioned  that  circumstance,  had  I  not  been  charged  with  receiv 
ing  injuries  with  impunity.  I  never  did  receive  injuries  with 
impunity;  nor  did  I  come  here  to  do  so.  I  would  sooner  leave 
the  world.  Mr.  L.  then  proceeded: 

"  Were  I  to  be  allowed  time  to  bring  forward  testimony  from 
Vermont,  I  could  prove  that  my  character,  as  a  man  of  spirit, 
stands  on  such  ground  in  my  country,  that  I  had  no  need  to 
defend  it,  by  entering  into  a  squabble  with  such  a  Chief  Justice 
in  court  time. 

"  If  the  proof  of  these  things  be  considered  of  importance,  I 
hope  I  shall  be  allowed  time  to  send  to  Vermont  to  obtain  it — 
for  my  own  part  I  cannot  so  consider  it.  I  must  think  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  ought  never  to  have  taken  up  the 
matter  of  the  difference  between  Mr.  Griswold  and  myself, 
circumstanced  as  it  was;  and  that  if  the  House  thought  other 
wise,  the  due  submission  to  their  authority,  which  I  have 
always  stood  ready  to  pay,  and  the  sorrow  which  I  have  ex 
pressed,  and  am  continually  expressing,  for  my  misapprehen 
sion,  might  serve  as  some  mitigation  of  an  offence  against  the 
dignity  of  this  House,  which  I  never  could  have  knowingly 
been  guilty  of. 

"  Mr.  Champlin  rose  and  said :    It  was  fully  proved  that  an 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  26l 

offence  of  a  gross  and  injurious  nature  had  been  committed  by 
the  member  from  Vermont  (Mr.  Lyon)  against  the  person  of 
the  member  from  Connecticut  (Mr.  Griswold),  and  that  the 
member  from  Connecticut,  whose  cheek  glowed  with  indigna 
tion,  and  whose  arm  was  nerved  by  the  desire  of  vengeance, 
recollecting  the  place  in  which  he  stood,  and  the  respect  due 
from  him  to  that  House,"  (Much  respect  he  showed,  indeed!) 
"  repressed  his  resentment. 

"  Mr.  R.  Williams  did  not  mean  to  introduce  a  debate  upon 
this  subject,  but  merely  to  state  the  reasons  which  had  induced 
him  in  the  select  committee,  and  in  the  House,  to  vote  against 
this  report.  Having  made  these  remarks,  he  would  state  why 
he  thought  the  House  had  not  the  power  to  expel  the  member 
from  Vermont.  He  did  not  believe  that  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  could  be  expelled  for  any  act  done  out  of  the 
House,  except  it  rendered  him  infamous. 

"  In  the  rules  for  the  regulation  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
House,  it  was  declared  that,  whenever  the  House  meets,  the 
Speaker  should  take  the  chair  at  the  hour  to  which  the  House 
adjourned.  But  where,  he  asked,  was  the  Speaker  when  the 
act  complained  of  was  committed,  and  what  was  the  situa 
tion  of  the  House  at  that  time?  He  did  not  mean  to  say  that 
the  Speaker  or  any  other  member  was  not  doing  his  duty,  but 
to  show  that  the  House  was  not  in  order.  The  Speaker  had  left 
his  seat,  and  was  in  that  of  another  member ;  and  the  members 
were  passing  to  and  from  different  parts  of  the  House.  So 
that  if  even  it  could  be  considered  in  such  a  situation  as  that  the 
rules  of  the  House  would  apply  to  it,  some  allowance  ought  to 
be  made  to  members  who  might  think  differently.  But  cer 
tainly  no  motion  could  have  been  stated  to  the  House  in  this 
situation. 


262  MATTHEW    LYON 

"  These  were  the  reasons,  Mr.  W.  said,  which  induced  him 
to  think  the  member  from  Vermont  ought  not  be  expelled ;  not 
because  he  approved  of  his  conduct,  or  that  the  insult  which  he 
states  to  have  been  offered  to  him,  as  warranting  the  improper 
manner  in  which  he  resented  it;  not  because  the  House  had  not 
the  power  to  expel  its  members,  but  because  it  was  not  in  such 
a  situation  at  the  time  as  to  authorize  an  expulsion  for  the 
offence,  and  that,  therefore,  the  person  offending  did  not  know 
that  any  such  consequence  as  an  expulsion  could  be  the  pun 
ishment  to  which  he  was  liable. 

"Mr.  Harper  said,  he  should,  like  the  gentleman  from  North 
Carolina,  omit  noticing  the  provocation  said  to  be  given  to  the 
gentleman  from  Vermont.  He  believed  that  was  out  of  the 
question,  because,  if  the  act  complained  of  had  been  in  con 
sequence  of  a  blow  received,  he  would  have  had  both  the  gentle 
men  expelled;  or  if  the  gentleman  from  Connecticut  had  given 
way  to  his  feelings,  and  struck  the  member  from  Vermont  to 
his  feet,  in  return  for  the  insult  he  had  received,  in  that  case  he 
should  have  been  for  involving  both  in  one  sentence;  for,  if  this 
rule  was  once  departed  from,  and  provocation  was  to  be  set 
up  as  an  apology  for  outrage,  every  person  would  be  left  to 
judge  in  his  own  cause  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  provocation. 
The  distinction  between  words  and  personal  attack,  is  a  dis 
tinction  well  understood.  No  language  could  be  sufficiently 
provoking  to  warrant  a  blow.  In  well-bred  society,  when  a 
man  receives  an  affront,  does  he  knock  down  the  person  giving 
it?  No.  He  represses  his  feelings,  and  takes  another  time 
and  place  to  obtain  justice;  and  except  the  members  of  that 
House  were  to  conduct  themselves  in  this  manner,  they  laid 
prostrate  the  barriers  which  protected  decency  of  conduct 
among  them."  (False,  as  was  soon  proved.) 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  263 

"  Friday,  February  9. 

"  Mr.  Harper  said,  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  performing 
a  very  disagreeable  duty.  It  was  a  duty,  however,  which  he 
found  himself  bound  to  perform,  since  no  other  member  had 
thought  proper  to  undertake  it. 

"  It  must  be  recollected  by  many  members  of  that  House, 
that  the  member  from  Vermont,  whose  very  extraordinary- 
conduct  has  been  for  some  time  the  subject  for  discussion, 
yesterday,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  defence,  made  use  of  an 
expression  so  outrageous,  so  gross  and  indecent,  that  no  gen 
tleman  yet  had  been  able  to  repeat  it;*  and  if  this  expression 
could  have  been  buried  in  silence,  he,  for  one,  should  have 
been  in  favor  of  its  being  so  buried;  but,  unfortunately,  this 
could  not  be  the  case,  it  had  not  only  been  heard  by  many  of 
the  members,  but  by  many  strangers;  and  he  was  authorized 
to  say,  it  was  about  to  appear  in  one  of  the  public  gazettes  of 
this  city."  (Porcupine  published  it.)  "As  it  could  not,  there 
fore,  be  kept  from  public  view,  it  was  necessary  to  take  such 
notice  of  it  as  it  deserved. 

"  Mr.  Dent  accordingly  presented  a  statement  of  the  of 
fensive  words  to  the  Chair;  which,  without  being  read,  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  to  whom  was  referred 
the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Privileges.  The  question  for 
this  reference  was  carried  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Speaker, 
there  being  43  votes  for  it,  and  43  votes  against  it."  (Even 
nine  Federalists  broke  away  from  the  ridiculous  Mr.  Harper 
on  this  vote.) 

"  Mr.  Shepard  said,  the  member  from  Vermont  had  been 

*The  expression  alluded  to,  if  used  at  all,  which  some  members  de 
nied,  and  it  was  not  in  the  published  remarks  of  Colonel  Lyon,  was 
merely  vulgar,  and  not  obscene.  Fielding  uses  like  language  in  ''Tom 
Jones,"  and  Chaucer  and  Shakespeare  were  similar  transgressors. 


264  MATTHEW   LYON 

guilty  of  an  indecency  for  which  he  ought  to  be  expelled  from 
his  seat.  The  gentleman  acknowledged  that  it  was  his  com 
mon  practice  to  scourge  everyone  who  offends  him.  It  was 
not  necessary,  therefore,  to  send  to  Vermont  to  inquire  his 
character  there.  For  his  own  part,  he  could  not  consent  to 
sit  with  him.  If  he  must  be  a  legislator,  it  should  be  in  a 
part  of  the  world  where  all  decisions  were  made  by  spitting 
and  scratching.  He  was  sure  no  gentleman  or  modest  man 
could  plead  in  behalf  of  such  a  man.  He  hoped  the  member 
from  Vermont  would  be  expelled,  without  spending  much 
time  on  the  subject. 

"  Mr.  Nicholas  was  always  desirous  of  the  approbation  of 
the  gentleman  who  had  just  sat  down,  because  he  believed 
he  always  acted  from  the  best  motives.  He  hoped  that  gen 
tleman  would  also  have  allowed  that  others  might  act  from 
principle  as  well  as  himself.  He  could  not  refrain,  however, 
from  doing  what  he  conceived  to  be  his  duty,  whatever  might 
be  the  motives  which  gentlemen  chose  to  attribute  to  his  con 
duct.  But  whatever  his  opinion  might  be  of  the  measures 
proposed  to  be  taken  in  consequence  of  the  offence  under  con 
sideration,  with  respect  to  the  offence  itself,  he  condemned 
it  as  much  as  any  other  gentleman,  as  indecent  and  improper. 

"  Mr.  N.  felt  it  necessary  to  make  some  observations 
on  this  subject,  because  the  report  of  the  Committee  of 
Privileges  does  not  state  facts  as  they  are;  he  supposed  it 
had  been  composed  hastily,  as  it  certainly  does  not  correspond 
with  the  impression  which  the  evidence  makes.  The  gentle 
man  who  introduced  the  resolution,  like  a  good  lawyer,  has 
made  the  case  broad  enough  to  support  it.  He  has  evidently 
given  way  to  the  impression  of  the  moment,  as  the  evidence 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  265 

certainly  does  not  support  the  allegations  therein  contained. 
(Mr.  N.  reads  the  resolution.)  He  said  he  could  not  agree 
to  this  resolution,  because  he  denied  that  the  House  was  sit 
ting,  or  that  the  offence  was  done  in  view  of  the  House.  He 
should  make  some  observations  on  the  testimony,  and  show 
wherein  it  differed  from  the  report  of  the  committee.  He 
needed  no  witness  to  prove  the  state  of  the  House  at  the 
time  this  transaction  took  place;  it  was  fully  in  the  recollection 
of  every  gentleman.  Not  one  of  them,  except  the  two  mem 
bers  appointed  to  count  the  ballots,  was  attending  to  public 
business,  and  very  few,  indeed,  who  were  not  out  of  order. 
The  area  of  the  House  was  full  of  squads,  carrying  on  con 
versation  without  restraint.  One  article  of  testimony  was 
strong  as  to  this  fact.  The  attention  of  the  gentleman  from 
Maryland  (Mr.  S.  Smith)  was  drawn  to  the  conversation  hold 
ing  around  the  fire  behind  him  by  a  loud  laugh.  There  could 
be  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  the  House  was  not  engaged  in 
business,  was  not  in  order,  was  not  in  a  situation  to  be  dis 
turbed  by  any  transaction  of  this  kind.  Indeed,  he  did  not 
understand,  from  what  had  fallen  from  the  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina,  that  he  thought  it  was.  His  argument  was, 
that  the  Speaker,  having  once  taken  the  Chair,  called  the 
House  to  order,  and  the  Journals  having  been  read,  the  rules 
of  the  House  knew  of  no  mode  by  which  it  could  be  disor 
ganized  without  an  adjournment. 

"  Suppose  this  position  was  true,  what  results?  Why,  that 
it  was  their  business  to  have  been  in  order,  and  not  that  they 
were  so;  for,  whilst  the  Speaker  was  out  of  his  Chair,  whilst 
members  were  out  of  their  places,  and  violating  the  rules  of 
order,  no  one  could  say  that  the  House  was  in  session,  or 


266  MATTHEW   LYON 

that  it  could  claim  respect  from  others  as  a  Legislative  body. 
Was  it  possible,  therefore,  for  men,  who  were  not  doing  what 
the  rules  of  the  House  required  them  to  do,  to  call  upon  other 
members  to  keep  the  rules  inviolate? 

"  Here  was  a  situation,  then,  when  the  members  of  the 
House  were  discharged  from  any  duty  for  two  hours,  and 
during  this  period,  the  transaction  which  is  now  the  subject 
of  inquiry  took  place. 

"The  member  from  Vermont  had  but  lately  got  his  seat 
in  the  House,  and  of  course,  was  not  well  acquainted  with 
its  rules;  and  seeing  the  members  of  the  House  in  the  situa 
tion  they  were,  the  Speaker  himself  holding  conversation  with 
him,  and,  though  not  encouraging  him  in  it,  yet,  by  asking 
questions,  pushing  him  further  into  it  than  he  otherwise  would 
probably  have  gone,  the  Speaker  calling  upon  him  and  another 
gentleman  in  conversation,  '  to  take  care,  or  they  should  want 
seconds.'  When  this  was  the  situation  of  things,  might  it  not 
have  imposed  upon  any  member  in  the  House?  Could  it  be 
considered  that  the  Speaker  thought  the  rules  of  the  House 
were  likely  to  be  violated  when  he  thus  spoke? 

"  Mr.  Nicholas  said,  he  would  consider  the  effect  which  Mr. 
Griswold's  attack  was  likely  to  produce  upon  Mr.  Lyon.  It 
appeared  that,  for  some  purpose  or  other,  which  he  pretended 
not  to  know,  Mr.  Lyon's  history  was  to  be  raked  up  for  twenty 
years  past.  A  transaction,  which  at  that  distance  of  time  took 
place,  had  been  introduced  with  a  view  of  sinking  him  in 
public  estimation.  The  first  time  this  painful  circumstance 
was  mentioned  to  Mr.  Lyon,  he  refused  to  take  notice  of  it; 
but  the  gentleman  from  Connecticut  laid  hold  of  him,  which 
was  tantamount  to  saying,  '  you  shall  listen  to  what  I  have  to 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  267 

say/  and  repeated  the  sarcasm.  He  asked  whether,  being 
placed  in  such  a  situation,  there  was  not  some  allowance  to 
be  made  for  acting  in  the  manner  he  did?  Nor  did  Mr. 
N.  think  the  mode  which  Mr.  Griswold  had  taken  to  re 
pel  anything  which  the  gentleman  from  Vermont  had  said 
against  the  Representatives  from  Connecticut  was  the  best 
calculated  for  the  purpose. 

"  Mr.  Sitgreaves  said,  before  the  question  was  taken,  he 
wished  to  make  some  observations  upon  it. 

"  It  was  said,  that  the  member  from  Vermont  could  not  have 
put  up  with  an  insult  like  that  offered  by  the  member  from 
Connecticut,  and  that  the  impossibility  of  putting  up  with  it 
was  a  sufficient  extenuation  of  his  crime.  He  had  all  along 
thought  that  whenever  anything  was  said  of  the  provocation 
which  produced  the  act  complained  of,  they  wandered  from 
the  proper  path.  He  believed  no  anterior  circumstance  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  judgment  which  the  House  ought 
to  pass  upon  this  offence.  Could  any  man  suppose  that  the 
feelings  of  the  gentleman  from  Connecticut  were  less  sensitive 
than  the  feelings  of  the  gentleman  from  Vermont?  Would 
any  man  call  in  question  his  spirit  or  ability?  Do  not  all  who 
know  him,  know  that  his  courage,  strength  and  spirit,  enabled 
him  to  take  instantaneous  revenge,  had  not  his  respect  for  the 
House  prevented  him  from  doing  so?" 

This  seems  to  show  Griswold  was  the  stronger  man  physi 
cally.  But  that  did  not  keep  him  from  running  away  at  the 
water  cooler. 

"  He  wished  to  add  this  latter  offence  to  the  former,  in  order 
to  show  the  full  ground  of  the  member's  expulsion,  since  this 
latter  offence  was  of  too  gross  a  nature  to  be  lost  sight  of.  He 


268  MATTHEW   LYON 

moved  to  add  the  following  words  to  the  resolution :  'And  for 
a  gross  indecency  of  language  in  his  defence  before  the  House/ 

"  Mr.  Coit  trusted  when  he  declared  it  to  be  his  intention 
to  vote  against  this  amendment,  he  should  not  be  thought  to 
be  an  advocate  of  Mr.  Lyon,  or  of  his  indecent  language.  In 
the  course  of  his  defence,  he  had  made  use  of  several  expres 
sions  highly  improper  to  be  used  by  a  member  of  that  House; 
but  they  mark  the  character  of  the  man.  He  was  unwilling, 
however,  to  take  hold  of  these  circumstances  against  him,  but 
would  give  them  all  the  proper  weight  they  deserved.  He 
presumed  the  particular  expression  alluded  to  fell  from  the 
member  inadvertently,  and  was  not  intended  to  offend  the 
decorum  and  order  of  the  House.  He  therefore  thought,  not 
withstanding  the  opinion  which  he  had  of  the  man,  that  it 
would  be  more  consistent  with  the  candor  and  dignity  of  the 
House  not  to  notice  it. 

"  Mr.  S.  Smith  did  not  believe  that  the  expression  alluded  to 
was  read.  What  the  gentleman  read,  was  delivered  in  a  tone 
of  voice  which  every  one  could  hear;  but  what  he  said  as  he 
sat  down  was  uttered  in  a  lower  voice,  and  he  did  not  hear 
it.  He  had  read  his  speech  that  morning  in  the  papers,  in 
which  there  was  no  such  expression.  He  wished  to  repeat 
to  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Rutledge)  who  had 
given  him  a  philippic,  that  his  reason  for  wishing  to  take  a 
vote  upon  this  question  without  debate,  was  no  other  than 
to  spare  a  further  expense  of  time  upon  a  business,  which,  he 
thought,  had  already  occupied  too  much. 

"After  a  few  other  observations,  the  question  was  put  on 
the  amendment  and  carried,  48  to  43. 

"  The  question  on  the  resolution  as  amended  was  about  to 
be  put,  when 

"  Mr.  Gallatin  said  he  knew  how  late  in  the  day  it  was,  and 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  269 

therefore  his  remarks  would  not  be  long;  but  as  he  considered 
there  was  a  point  of  view  in  which  the  subject  had  not  been 
placed,  he  wished  to  say  a  few  words  before  the  question  was 
taken. 

"  Of  the  fact  itself  he  had  no  remarks  to  make ;  the  evidence 
was  direct,  and  all  could  draw  their  inferences  from  it. 

"  But  it  appeared  to  him  that  gentlemen  who  expressed  so 
much  sensibility  on  the  occasion,  had  confined  themselves 
wholly  to  the  indecency  committed  within  the  walls  of  the 
House,  without  taking  any  notice  of  the  nature  of  the  punish 
ment  proposed  to  be  inflicted. 

"  Our  Government,  he  said,  was  a  Government  by  repre 
sentation.  The  people  of  the  United  States  had  not  vested 
power  with  a  sparing  hand;  they  had  given  all  power  out  of 
their  hands;  but  they  had  guarded  against  the  abuse  of  it. 
They  had  said  this  power  shall  not  be  exercised  but  by  persons 
appointed  by  ourselves.  This  being  the  case,  said  Mr.  G., 
we,  the  representatives  of  the  people,  have  only  a  limited 
power  over  individual  representatives  in  our  body.  It  is  true 
the  Constitution  has  given  us  the  power  of  expulsion,  but 
under  as  much  caution  as  power  could  be  given. 

"  When  he  put  questions  to  the  witnesses  in  relation  to  the 
order  of  the  House,  at  the  time  the  act  complained  of  took 
place,  he  did  it  not  with  a  view  of  lessening  the  offence  itself. 
He  did  not  mean  to  inquire  whether  the  member  from  Ver 
mont  had  committed  a  less  degree  of  indecency,  because  the 
House  was  in  one  situation,  than  it  would  have  been  if  it 
had  been  in  another;  but  his  object  was  to  show  that  the 
public  business  had  not  been  interrupted,  and  that  the  House 
was  in  a  situation  in  which  it  could  not  have  been  interrupted. 


270  MATTHEW  LYON 

It  was  true  the  Speaker  had,  in  the  morning,  taken  the  Chair, 
and  the  House  had  not  adjourned;  but  it  must  also  be 
allowed  that  the  House  was  not  at  that  time  organized.  What 
was  the  business  before  the  House?  A  committee  of  two 
members  were  counting  the  votes  for  managers  of  an  im 
peachment.  Were  they  interrupted;  or  could  they  be  inter 
rupted  by  an  incident  of  this  kind?  He  was  sure  they  were 
not  interrupted.  If,  then,  the  public  business  was  not  inter 
rupted,  and  if  the  fact  was  not  of  that  nature  which  showed 
a  corruption  of  heart,  he  did  not  think  it  would  be  proper  to 
expel  the  member  from  Vermont. 

"  Monday,  February  12. 

"  Mr.  Findley  said,  the  question  before  the  committee  was 
a  question  of  indecency,  and  not  of  crime;  and  he  wished,  for 
the  sake  of  decency,  so  much  had  not  been  said  upon  it.  In 
forming  the  Constitution  there  had  been  a  distinction  made 
between  punishment  and  expulsion.  Expulsion  was  evidently 
the  highest  punishment  which  the  House  could  inflict,  but 
no  one  could  say  indecency  was  the  highest  crime.  He  never 
understood,  either  at  the  time  the  Constitution  was  formed, 
or  since,  that  expulsion  was  intended  to  be  applied  to  any 
thing  but  crimes,  for  what  would  be  a  subject  for  impeach 
ment  in  other  bodies  where  impeachments  could  be  brought. 
This  was  not,  therefore,  an  opinion  formed  upon  the  spur  of 
the  occasion.  Mr.  F.  said,  he  knew  of  an  instance  of  this 
kind,  which  happened  in  another  legislative  body,  upon 
which  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  it ;  but  they  never 
made  a  report,  but  held  their  decision  in  terrorem  over  the 
offending  member.  He  thought,  if  a  similar  course  had  been 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  27! 

taken  in  this  matter,  it  would  have  been  preferable  to  spending 
so  much  time  in  debate  upon  it. 

"  Mr.  Shepard  spoke  again  upon  this  subject.  If  the  mem 
ber  from  Vermont  were  not  expelled,  he  supposed  it  would 
break  up  the  present  session,  without  doing  any  business ;  that 
it  would  divide  the  States  against  each  other,  and  finally  end 
in  a  civil  war."  Such  arrant  nonsense  as  this  was  received 
with  a  serious  face  by  the  Federalists. 

"  Mr.  Pinckney  said,  in  order  to  insure  perfect  freedom  of 
debate,  it  was  necessary  to  repress  every  personal  violence  in 
the  first  instance.  In  considering  this  question,  he  considered 
it  as  fixing  a  rule  for  their  government  in  future;  and  he 
thought,  if  it  were  so  considered  (and  no  reference  had  to  the 
dispute  which  had  produced  the  discussion),  there  would  be  a 
pretty  unanimous  opinion  that  an  offence  of  this  kind  ought 
to  be  punished  by  expulsion. 

"  Mr.  Livingston  rose  to  entreat  the  gentlemen,  as  they 
valued  the  respectability  of  the  House,  the  good  opinion  of 
their  constituents,  and  the  public  Treasury,  that  they  would 
suffer  this  business  to  come  to  a  conclusion.  Their  constitu 
ents,  he  was  certain,  had  long  been  tired  of  the  discussion. 
Nearly  twenty  days,  which  had  cost  as  many  thousand  dollars 
to  the  country,  had  been  consumed  in  this  business.  Gentle 
men  rose  to  express  their  abhorrence  of  abuse  in  abusive 
terms,  and  their  hatred  of  indecent  acts  with  indecency.  The 
simple  question  before  the  House  was,  what  degree  of  punish 
ment  was  proper  to  be  inflicted  upon  the  member  from  Ver 
mont.  (The  Chairman  informed  Mr.  L.  he  was  mistaken 
in  saying  twenty  days  had  been  consumed  in  this  business; 
it  had  been  before  the  House  only  fourteen.)  Mr.  L.  said 
it  was  in  a  fair  way  for  being  twenty. 


272  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  Mr.  R.  Williams  rose  and  took  notice  of  the  different  argu 
ments  urged  in  favor  of  the  amendment.  He  denied  that  the 
committee  ought  to  consider  the  consequences  to  which  an 
act  might  possibly  lead;  if  so,  an  assault  would  of  course  be 
punished  equally  with  murder,  as  it  might  possibly  lead  to  it. 
He  did  not  think  the  House  ought  to  interfere  any  further, 
than  to  preserve  order  and  decorum  in  its  proceedings.  If 
a  member  of  the  House  committed  a  crime,  he  was  answerable 
to  the  laws  equally  with  any  other  man.  Upon  the  whole, 
he  considered  the  proposed  punishment  as  disproportionate 
to  the  offence,  and  should  therefore  move  an  amendment, 
Mr.  W.  then  moved  to  amend  the  resolution  reported, 
by  striking,  out  the  words,  '  be  for  this  disorderly  behaviour 
expelled/  and  insert  in  their  place,  '  is  highly  censurable,  and 
that  he  be  reprimanded  by  the  Speaker,  in  the  presence  of  this 
House/ 

"  Mr.  Dayton  (the  Speaker)  said,  the  length  of  the  present 
debate  had  been  complained  of;  but  who,  he  asked,  had  first 
broke  silence  after  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  (Mr. 
Thatcher)  had  expressed  his  wish  that  the  vote  might  be 
taken  without  debate?  It  was  the  gentleman  who  had  just 
sat  down ;  and  now  he  had  given  the  committee  another  speech, 
and  introduced  a  proposition  calculated  to  produce  further 
discussion.  He  wishes  the  gentleman  from  Vermont  to  be 
reprimanded  by  the  Speaker.  What  could  the  Speaker  say 
to  him?  He  could  only  say,  You  have  done  an  act  which 
would  disgrace  a  blackguard;  come  and  take  your  seat  in  the 
House,  You  have  insulted  us  with  words  which  show  your 
defiance  of  us,  but  come  and  sit  with  us  and  be  our  brother 
legislator. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  273 

"  Were  these  words  to  be  addressed  to  the  member?  The 
Speaker  would  sooner  address  him  in  words  of  thunder  which 
would  drive  him  from  his  presence. 

"  Mr.  Nicholas  hoped  the  committee  would  not  be  pre 
vented  from  doing  what  it  thought  proper,  because  there  might 
be  a  difference  between  the  private  opinion  of  the  Speaker, 
and  what  he  might  be  called  upon  to  do  in  his  capacity  as 
Speaker. 

"  Mr.  R.  Williams  denied  that  he  was  the  first  who  began 
the  debate. 

"  Mr.  Dayton  repeated  that  he  was  the  first  who  broke 
silence  after  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  had  wished 
the  vote  to  be  taken  without  debate. 

"  Mr.  R.  Williams  said  that  it  would  appear,  from  the  man 
ner  in  which  the  gentleman  had  said  he  broke  the  silence, 
that  he  had  begun  the  debate,  which  he  did  not.  Mr.  W. 
said,  he  was  more  strongly  convinced  than  ever  of  the 
impropriety  of  extending  the  power  of  expulsion,  since  he  had 
heard  the  passionate  expressions  of  the  gentleman  from  New 
Jersey.  Was  this  the  language  of  a  Judge?  He  would  not 
only  pass  the  law  upon  the  offender,  but  he  would  do  it 
with  thunder  and  vengeance!  In  his  opinion,  Mr.  W.  said, 
nothing  could  tend  more  to  disgrace  the  councils  of  America 
than  such  heated  language  as  this.  It  was  sufficient  to  induce 
the  people  to  say,  '  We  have  too  much  liberty,  too  much  free 
dom  of  speech;  our  Government  is  bad,'  and  to  be  ready  to 
lay  hold  of  any  other  that  is  offered  to  them.  A  sentiment 
of  this  kind  tended  more  to  destroy  the  Government  than  any 
thing  he  had  heard.  Gentlemen  talked  of  heat  in  debate;  but 
where  did  it  come  from?  Not  from  the  gentlemen  in  opinion 


274  MATTHEW   LYON 

with  him,  must  be  evident  to  every  one.  Whatever  opinion 
might  be  held  of  his  amendment,  he  thought  it  proper,  and 
therefore  made  it;  nor  did  he  think  it  liberal  in  any  man  to 
treat  it  as  it  had  been  treated.  Was  it  right  to  be  told  by  a 
member,  because  he  had  moved  an  amendment  like  the  pres 
ent,  that  he  should  be  ashamed  to  sit  with  him?  Was  this 
what  the  public  expected  to  hear  in  its  Legislative  councils? 
He  believed  not.  He  thought  it  would  do  no  credit  to  him 
who  uttered  the  sentiment. 

"  Mr.  Dayton  said  that  the  gentleman  from  North  Carolina 
had  misstated  what  he  had  said  in  several  instances;  but  he 
did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  set  him  right,  it  would  be  a 
waste  of  time  and  words. 

"  Mr.  Harper  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  amendment.  He 
was  sorry  to  see  gentlemen  determined  to  support  the  member 
from  Vermont,  at  all  events,  rather  than  lose  a  vote  on 
favorite  political  questions.  The  reprimand  proposed,  he  was 
confident,  would  have  no  effect  upon  them;  besides  it  was  a 
punishment  of  the  lightest  kind  which  the  House  could  inflict, 
and  by  no  means  proportioned  to  the  highest  possible  out 
rage." 

Jefferson  said  that  Harper  wanted  a  monarchy  in  place  of 
the  republic.  Hamilton  called  Harper  a  man  of  vanity. 

"  Mr.  Dana  condemned  the  wish  that  had  been  expressed 
for  passing  a  silent  vote  upon  this  subject,  and  particularly 
the  conduct  of  the  gentleman  from  Maryland  (Mr.  S.  Smith), 
for  having  expressed  such  a  wish. 

"  Mr.  D.  said  he  did  not  mean  to  cast  any  blame  upon 
gentlemen  who  differed  from  him  in  opinion;  nor  would  he 
envy  any  gentleman  the  pleasure  they  would  have  in  the  com- 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  275 

pany  of  the  gentleman  from  Vermont,  if  they  chose  to  asso 
ciate  with  such  a  kennel  of  filth,  let  them  do  so;  let  them  press 
him  to  their  heart,  and  salute  him  as  their  brother,  they  may 
do  it  without  envy;  let  them  be  designated  as  the  companions 
of  Mr.  Lyon,  by  being  pointed  at,  by  '  There  goes  the  member 
of  Congress  who  voted  to  have  Matthew  Lyon  as  a  com 
panion!'  If  they  felt  themselves  invulnerable  to  such  a  re 
proach,  he  acknowledged  he  had  not  attained  to  that  degree 
of  insensibility.  He  himself  would  put  him  away,  as  citizens 
removed  impurities  and  filth  from  their  docks  and  wharves." 

Dana  was  not  nearly  the  equal  of  Lyon  in  ability  and  real 
worth,  and  his  language  here  shows  he  could  play  the  low 
blackguard. 

"  Mr.  S.  Smith  thought,  as  he  had  determined  to  say  nothing 
upon  this  subject,  that  he  should  not  have  received  the  cen 
sure  of  any  one.  He  had  conversed  with  several  gentlemen  on 
both  sides  of  the  question,  and  he  thought,  in  order  to  avoid 
a  lengthy  discussion,  which  could  have  no  effect  but  produce 
heat,  it  would  be  best  to  take  a  silent  vote  on  the  question. 
The  gentleman  who  had  just  sat  down  had  called  upon  him 
as  a  military  man.  He  did  not  come  here  as  a  military  man, 
but  as  a  legislator.  It  seemed  as  if  gentlemen  were  determined 
to  make  him  speak  on  this  subject;  if  he  had  wished  to  do  so, 
they  would  not  have  been  able  to  keep  him  silent.  He  thought 
the  gentleman  last  up  had  made  a  speech  to  little  purpose.  If 
military  opinions  were  wanted,  two  military  gentlemen  had 
already  given  their  opinions.  If,  twenty  years  ago,  he  had 
been  asked  an  opinion,  he  supposed  he  should  have  given  such 
a  one  as  the  gentleman  from  Connecticut  would  not  have  liked 
to  hear. 


276  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  The  question  on  the  resolution  was  put  and  carried,  51 
to  43. 

"  The  committee  then  rose,  and  reported  the  amendment  to 
the  resolution,  together  with  the  evidence  which  had  been 
taken  before  them.  The  House  took  up  the  amendment 
(relative  to  the  offensive  words  in  the  defence)  and  agreed  to 
it,  49  to  46. 

"  Mr.  Macon  said,  it  was  observable  there  were  two  opinions 
in  the  House;  one  for  expulsion,  the  other  for  a  reprimand. 
He  did  not  think  the  offence  was  such  as  would  authorize  an 
expulsion.  He  said  there  had  been  as  many  illiberal  expres 
sions  in  the  course  of  this  debate  as  he  had  ever  heard.  Gen 
tlemen  had  talked  of  party  doing  this,  and  party  doing  the 
other,  whilst  they  themselves  are  the  first  to  mention  it.  He 
hoped  they  would  have  kept  these  things  out  of  the  sight  of 
the  world.  If  gentlemen  of  one  description  voted  one  way, 
those  of  another  voted  a  contrary  way.  As  for  the  punishment 
of  being  reprimanded  in  the  face  of  the  House,  which  would 
be  entered  upon  the  Journal,  he  thought  it  a  very  serious  one, 
and  he  would  almost  as  soon  be  hanged  at  once. 

"  The  question  was  then  taken  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  the 
amendment  was  negatived,  52  to  44. 

"  The  question  was  next  taken  upon  the  resolution  for  ex 
pulsion,  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  carried,  yeas  52,  nays  44. 

"  The  Constitution  requiring  two-thirds  of  the  members 
present  to  carry  a  vote  of  expulsion,  the  motion  was  declared 
by  the  Speaker  not  carried. 

"  The  following  is  the  testimony  taken  in  the  foregoing  case, 
as  delivered  in  at  the  Clerk's  table.  The  Speaker,  Jonathan 
Dayton,  Esq.,  of  New  Jersey,  deposed  as  follows: 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  277 

"  When  the  ballots  of  the  House  for  managers  of  the  im 
peachment  against  Mr.  Blount  were  brought  to  the  table  to  be 
counted,  and  the  committee  who  were  named  as  tellers  were 
actually  engaged  in  that  business,  I  walked  forth  from  the 
Chair  without  adjourning  the  House,  in  order  to  take  a  little 
exercise  about  the  room.  I  soon  heard  some  expressions 
rather  warmer  than  usual  at  the  fire,  behind  me,  and  turning, 
observed  that  they  passed  between  Mr.  Lyon,  of  Vermont, 
and  Mr.  Dana,  of  Connecticut.  I  addressed  myself  imme 
diately  to  them,  and  said,  '  Gentlemen,  keep  yourselves  cool;' 
and  afterwards  added,  '  if  you  proceed  much  further,  you  will 
want  seconds/  Upon  this,  Mr.  Lyon  addressed  himself  to 
me,  and  said,  among  other  things,  that  he  had  in  his  own  mind, 
designated  the  embassy  to  Cayenne  for  Mr.  Dana;  upon  which, 
in  order  to  give  a  turn  of  pleasantry  to  the  conversation,  I 
asked  Mr.  Lyon  whether  he  had  reserved  for  himself  the  mis 
sion  to  Kamtschatka,  among  the  furred  tribes.  After  a  few 
other  remarks,  Mr.  Lyon  began  some  animadversions  upon 
the  temper  of  the  people  of  Connecticut,  and  the  conduct  of 
their  Representatives  in  Congress.  He  said  he  had  good 
reason  to  know  and  declare,  that  the  members  from  that  State 
were  acting  in  direct  opposition  to  the  opinions  of  nine-tenths 
of  their  constituents;  that,  regardless  of  the  public  good,  they 
were  seeking  their  own  private  interests;  that  their  object  was 
to  obtain  offices  for  themselves;  that  if  they  could  not  obtain 
the  most  lucrative,  they  would  not  refuse  those  which  were  less 
so,  (mentioning  two  sums,  which  I  think  were  nine  thousand 
dollars  and  one  thousand  dollars;)  that  he,  Mr.  Lyon,  had  a 
good  right  to  know  the  people  of  Connecticut,  for  he  had  to 
fight  with  them  in  his  own  district. 


278  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  Upon  this,  Mr.  Griswold,  who  was  sitting  in  Mr.  Harper's 
seat,  asked  whether  he  had  fought  them  with  a  wooden  sword, 
or  with  his  wooden  sword.  Mr.  Lyon  either  not  hearing  this 
question,  or  affecting  not  to  have  heard  it,  continued  his  re 
marks  to  me,  and  added,  that  when  the  Connecticut  people 
came  into  his  district  on  visits  to  their  relations,  they  came 
with  strong  prejudices  against  him  and  his  politics;  but,  after 
conversing  with  them  freely  he  had  always  succeeded  in  bring 
ing  them  over  to  his  side ;  that  if  he  should  go  into  that  State 
and  talk  with  the  people,  he  could  open  their  eyes  and  effect 
an  entire  change  there.  Upon  which,  Mr.  Griswold  laying 
his  hand  gently  upon  Mr.  Lyon's  arm,  in  order  to  attract  his 
attention,  said,  '  if  you  were  to  enter  into  Connecticut  for  the 
purpose  you  mention,  you  could  not  alter  the  opinion  of  the 
meanest  hostler/  Upon  which  Mr.  Griswofd  repeated  the 
substance  of  a  former  question,  and  asked,  whether,  when  he 
should  come,  he  would  take  with  him  his  wooden  sword. 
Upon  which  followed  the  indecency  which  has  given  rise  to 
this  reference. 

"  Samuel  Smith,  of  Maryland,  deposed  as  follows :  '  I  passed 
Mr.  Lyon,  who  was  engaged  in  a  jesting  conversation  with 
other  members  such  as  gentlemen  frequently  amuse  them 
selves  with,  when  the  House  is  not  in  actual  business.  Not 
thinking  the  conversation  interesting,  my  attention  was  par 
ticularly  directed  to  my  letters,  when  I  heard  Mr.  Lyon  direct 
ing  his  conversation  to  the  Speaker,  who  sat  in  the  seat  be 
hind  me,  generally  occupied  by  Mr.  Dana;  Mr.  Griswold  in 
that  of  Mr.  Harper.  Mr.  Griswold  then  said  something  which 
created  a  loud  laugh,  which  I  did  not  hear,  but  which  I  have 
since  understood,  related  to  the  wooden  sword.  I  turned, 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  2/9 

and  observed  that  Mr.  Lyon  still  continued  his  conversation, 
directed  to  the  Speaker,  and  in  the  same  style  of  jocularity, 
indeed,  all  the  gentlemen  appeared  to  be  in  perfect  good 
humor,  and  to  consider  the  conversation  as  amusing. 

"  Mr.  Griswold  had  removed  outside  of  the  bar  to  where 
Mr.  Lyon  stood.  At  this  time,  having  left  my  seat  with  the 
intention  to  leave  the  House,  I  leaned  on  the  bar  next  to  Mr. 
Lyon,  and  fronting  Mr.  Griswold.  Mr.  Lyon  having  observed 
(still  directing  himself  to  the  Speaker),  that,  could  he  have  the 
same  opportunity  of  explanation  that  he  had  in  his  own  dis 
trict,  he  did  not  doubt  he  could  change  the  opinion  of  the 
people  in  Connecticut;  Mr.  Griswold  then  said,  'If  you,  Mr. 
Lyon,  should  go  into  Connecticut,  you  could  not  change  the 
opinion  of  the  meanest  hostler  in  the  State.'  To  which  Mr. 
Lyon  then  said  '  That  may  be  your  opinion,  but  I  think  dif 
ferently,  and  if  I  was  to  go  into  Connecticut,  I  am  sure  I 
could  produce  the  effect  I  have  mentioned.'  Mr.  Griswold 
then  said,  '  Colonel  Lyon,  when  you  go  into  Connecticut,  you 
had  better  take  with  you  the  wooden  sword  that  was  attached 

to  you  at  the  camp  at .'     On  which,  Mr.  Lyon  spat  in 

Mr.  Griswold's  face,  who  coolly  took  his  handkerchief  out  of 
his  pocket  and  wiped  his  face.  Believing  that  the  quarrel 
would  go  no  further,  I  left  the  House. 

"  David  Brooks,  of  New  York,  deposed  as  follows : 
"At  the  time  which  has  been  mentioned,  I  was  sitting  in  my 
seat,  and  the  Speaker  in  Mr.  Dana's.  When  he,  Mr.  Lyon, 
talked  of  contending,  or  fighting  with  the  people  of  Connec 
ticut,  Mr.  Griswold  asked,  if  he  had  not  better  take  his  wooden 
sword.  I  thought  he  did  not  hear  it,  as  I  looked  at  him,  think 
ing  it  a  pressing  question,  and  he  did  not  change  countenance, 


28O  MATTHEW   LYON 

but  continued  his  conversation  with  the  Speaker.  Mr.  Gris- 
wold  then  said,  he  does  not  hear  me,  or  I  said  he  does  not  hear 
you,  I  do  not  recollect  which.  Mr.  Griswold  afterwards  went 
on  the  outside  of  the  bar,  and  standing  by  Mr.  Lyon,  laid  his 
hand  on  his  arm,  and  said,  '  You  could  not  change  the  opinion 
of  a  single  hostler  in  the  State  of  Connecticut/  Mr.  Lyon 
then  talked  of  setting  up  a  press  in  Connecticut,  and  fighting 
them  on  their  own  ground.  Mr.  Griswold  then  said,  you  will 
fight  them  with  your  wooden  sword.  Mr.  Lyon  then  spit  in 
his  face.  Upon  this,  Mr.  Griswold  stepped  back  with  his 
right  foot,  looked  steadily  at  Mr.  Lyon,  and  stiffened  his  arm 
as  if  going  to  strike.  Mr.  Dana  then  observed,  they  would 
consider  of  this  matter;  and  I  said,  this  is  not  the  place;  there 
is  a  time  and  a  place  for  everything.  Mr.  Griswold  wiped 
his  face  with  his  handkerchief,  and  went  out  with  his  col 
league. 

"  Samuel  W.  Dana,  of  Connecticut,  deposed  as  follows: 
"A  very  short  time  before  the  commission  of  the  outrage 
now  under  consideration  I  stepped  within  the  bar,  and  stood 
near  the  end  of  the  desk  which  is  in  front  of  the  seat  usually 
occupied  by  myself,  the  Speaker  being  then  in  that  seat. 
From  the  tenor  of  the  conversation  I  judged  that  the  member 
from  Vermont  had  been  speaking  of  his  ability  to  effect  some 
great  object  in  Connecticut;  when  Mr.  Griswold  replied,  ac 
cording  to  my  present  recollection,  to  this  effect :  '  You  could 
not,  if  you  should  go  into  Connecticut  with  your  wooden 
sword  and  candle ;'  alluding,  as  I  then  apprehended,  to  a  report 
in  circulation,  which,  as  also  that  of  the  sword,  I  knew  to  have 
been  heard  by  Mr.  Griswold  and  by  the  member  from  Ver 
mont.  On  this  the  member  from  Vermont  spit  in  Mr.  Gris- 
wold's  face. 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  28l 

"  Considering  the  observations  of  some  gentlemen  of  the 
committee,  perhaps,  in  justice  to  the  member  from  Vermont, 
I  ought  to  mention  that,  while  Mr.  Griswold  was  in  Mr.  Har 
per's  seat,  I  was  in  the  passage  leading  from  the  eastern  door 
of  the  hall  to  the  Speaker's  table,  and  conversed  for  a  short 
time  with  Mr.  Griswold  and  Mr.  Brooks,  when  I  was  informed 
that  Mr.  Griswold  had  spoken  to  the  member  from  Vermont, 
and  alluded  to  the  report  of  the  wooden  sword.  On  inquiring 
what  answer  was  made  to  this  by  the  member  from  Vermont, 
Mr.  Griswold  observed  that  he  believed  it  was  not  heard  by 
the  member  from  Vermont,  as  he  made  no  answer  to  it.  This 
was  before  the  conversation  which  immediately  preceded  the 
personal  outrage  offered  to  Mr.  Griswold,  and,  I  think,  at  a 
different  time  from  any  which  I  have  before  mentioned. 

"  Chauncey  Goodrich,  Esq.,  of  Connecticut,  deposed  as  fol-. 
lows: 

"  The  only  information  I  have  on  the  subject,  relates  to  a 
conversation  with  Mr.  Lyon,  relative  to  his  having  been 
cashiered  in  the  Army.  I  came  from  New  York  to  this  place, 
this  session,  in  a  stage  taken  by  Mr.  Champlin,  together  with 
him,  Mr.  Otis  and  Mr.  Lyon.  We  were  the  only  persons  in 
the  stage  for  a  considerable  part  of  the  way.  I  had  but  little 
personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Lyon  before  this  time.  Mr. 
Lyon,  on  the  way,  seemed  to  be  disposed  to  give  us  the  history 
of  his  life.  It  was  filled  up,  according  to  the  account  he  gave 
us,  with  many  singular  and  ludicrous  anecdotes.  The  ludi 
crous  anecdotes  that  he  told  of  himself,  in  a  jocular  manner, 
produced  from  the  gentlemen  with  him  a  kind  of  pleasantry. 

"  I  think  either  immediately,  or  some  time  before  Mr.  Lyon 
adverted  to  the  subject,  something  was  said  of  Mr.  Lyon's 


282  MATTHEW   LYON 

having  been  in  the  Army;  I  cannot  be  very  minute  in  the  ac 
count  he  gave.  I  recollect  his  saying  that  allusions  to  his 
having  been  cashiered  had  been  in  the  public  papers,  that  it 
was  a  matter  of  great  mortification;  that  he  could  not  bear  to 
hear  of  the  affair;  that  it  happened  when  he  was  young.  He 
said  that  he  was  a  subaltern  officer  of  a  corps  stationed  on  the 
frontier,  at  a  great  distance  from  the  main  Army,  and  without 
support;  that  the  officers  and  men  were  uneasy,  and  discon 
tented  with  their  situation;  that  they  considered  it  as  being 
too  exposed;  that  he,  at  a  certain  time,  was  out  with  a  party 
of  the  men ;  that  when  he  returned,  he  found  the  corps  to  which 
he  had  belonged  either  had  abandoned,  or  were  abandoning 
(I  cannot  say  certainly  which),  their  post;  that  they  went  to 
some  distance,  where  they  made  a  halt;  that  he  endeavored  to 
persuade  them  to  return,  they  refused,  the  officers  insisted  that 
he  should  go  to  headquarters  to  General  Gates,  and  make  a 
representation  of  their  situation;  he  went,  upon  being  intro 
duced  to  General  Gates,  and  introducing  the  subject,  General 
Gates  damned  him  for  a  coward,  and  ordered  that  he  should 
go  into  the  custody  of  a  guard ;  that  he,  Mr.  Lyon,  insisted  on 
his  rights,  as  an  officer,  not  to  be  put  under  guard.  That  the 
Adjutant-General,  an  aid  of  General  Gates,  said  something  on 
the  subject,  and  Mr.  Lyon  was  finally  arrested,  tried  with  the 
rest  of  the  officers,  by  a  court  martial,  and  sentenced  to  be 
cashiered  from  the  Army. 

"  I  do  not  recollect  having  mentioned  this  conversation  to 
Mr.  Griswold,  my  colleague. 

"  Christopher  G.  Chaplin,  Esq.,  of  Rhode  Island,  deposed 
as  follows: 

"  I  have  attentively  considered  the  evidence  given  to  the 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  283 

Committee  of  the  Whole,  by  Mr.  Goodrich,  and  to  the  best 
of  my  recollection,  it  is  correct. 

"  Joseph  B.  Varnum,a  Esq.,  of  Massachusetts,  deposed  as 
follows : 

"  On  the  day  on  which  the  House  were  balloting  for  man 
agers  of  the  impeachment  of  William  Blount,  the  ballots  being 
collected,  and  the  tellers  counting  them,  I  was  standing  at 
the  fire  in  the  west  part  of  the  House,  in  company  with  other 
gentlemen ;  the  Speaker  having  left  his  chair,  and  the  members 
generally  their  seats.  Mr.  Lyon  came  up  to  the  exterior  of 
the  circle  round  the  fire,  and  observed,  that  he  imagined  there 
would  be  a  bustle;  that  he  had  spit  in  Griswold's  face.  I  ob 
served  to  him  that  I  was  exceedingly  sorry  for  it,  and  asked 
him  how  a  thing  of  the  kind  could  possibly  have  taken  place. 
Mr.  Lyon  then  told  me  the  circumstances  which  he  said  pro 
voked  him  to  do  the  act. 

"  Q.  Did  Mr.  Lyon  tell  you  that  he  heard  Mr.  Griswold 
twice  use  the  expression  respecting  the  wooden  sword? 

"A.  Yes. 

"  The  following  narrative  was  given  by  Mr.  Lyon,  in  the 
course  of  his  defence  before  the  Committee  of  Privileges,  on 
Thursday,  the  1st  of  February: 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee :  After  having  heard  so  much 
about  the  '  wooden  sword/  an  expression,  the  repetition  and 
application  of  which  in  an  indignant  manner  has  caused  you 
this  present  trouble,  I  hope  you'll  indulge  me  with  a  patient 
hearing  to  a  short  narrative  of  the  circumstance  which 
awakens  my  feelings,  and  utterly  disables  me  from  bearing 
such  reflections. 

0  Representative  Varnum  was  the  great-grandfather  of  a  recent 
Surrogate  of  New  York,  Hon.  James  M.  Varnum. 


284  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  Twenty-one  years  have  elapsed  since  the  unfortunate  af 
fair,  during  which,  it  has  slept  in  oblivion,  until  party  rage 
and  party  newspapers  tore  open  the  wound  in  my  breast. 

"  To  pursue  the  narrative :  General  St.  Clair,  who  presided 
at  the  Court  Martial,  which  condemned  me,  in  the  summer 
succeeding  that  misfortune,  recommended  me  to  General 
Schuyler,  informing  him  (as  I  suppose)  of  my  ill-usage  and  of 
my  subsequent  services,  and  obtained  for  me  a  commission 
of  Paymaster  to  a  Continental  regiment  commanded  by  Colo 
nel  Seth  Warner,  which  commission  entitled  me  to  the  rank 
of  Captain.  In  this  I  was  again  unfortunately  led  into  trouble, 
as  the  officers  of  the  regiment  had,  previous  to  my  appoint 
ment,  petitioned  Congress  for  the  restoration  of  the  former 
Paymaster,  who  had  been  cashiered,  and  was  the  son  of  a  Con 
gressman  of  Connecticut. 

"  Notwithstanding  the  coldness  this  created  towards  me, 
and  the  consequent  bickerings,  no  officer  ever  thought  proper 
to  mention  to  me  the  unhappy  affair  of  the  preceding  summer. 
In  this  regiment  I  served  at  the  capture  of  Burgoyne;  and  the 
succeeding  spring  when  my  family  could  return  to  my  planta 
tion,  from  which  Burgoyne's  invasion  had  drove  them,  at  the 
solicitation  of  Governor  Chittenden,  and  many  other  friends, 
I  resigned  at  a  time  when  the  officers  of  the  regiment,  almost 
all,  had  become  reconciled,  and  wished  my  stay.  Immediately 
on  my  resignation  I  was  appointed  Captain  in  the  militia,  and 
to  several  civil  offices  under  the  authority  of  the  State  of 
Vermont,  which  had  newly  formed  a  Constitution  and  set  up 
government. 

"  In  the  year  1778,  I  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Legis 
lature,  in  which  station  I  served  my  country  ever  since,  save 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  285 

two  years,  until  my  appointment  to  Congress.  I  held  a  station 
in  the  militia,  until  the  command  of  the  regiment  I  lived  in, 
with  a  full  Colonel's  commission,  was  given  me.  I  moved  to 
where  I  now  reside  about  the  close  of  the  war,  and  I  hare  had 
no  concern  with  military  matters,  nor  been  a  candidate  for  any 
military  position  since. 

"  Thus  circumstanced,  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  I  must 
appeal  to  your  own  feelings,  whether  it  belonged  to  me  to  re 
ceive  with  impunity  the  aggravated  insult  offered  me  by  that 
young  gentleman,  Mr.  Griswold.  The  station  I  now  hold 
points  out  to  you  the  propriety  of  giving  full  credit  to  the  plain 
story  I  now  tell  you,  especially  as  it  is  corroborated  by  evi 
dence.  The  proper  testimony  to  support  this  narrative  I  will 
procure  and  lay  before  the  public  as  soon  as  the  situation  of  the 
evidences  will  admit. 

"  I  shall  conclude  with  making  some  observations  on  the 
testimony,  all  of  which  corroborates  that  I  was  standing  with 
out  the  bar  conversing  with  the  Speaker,  who  sat  on  an  out 
side  chair;  the  subject  I  believe  it  is  apparent  was  Mr.  Nicho 
las's  motion.  I  did  not  like  the  opposition  given  to  it  by  the 
Connecticut  members.  I  insisted  they  did  not  act  with  the 
sense  and  understanding  of  the  people  of  that  State.  This 
led  to  saying  many  other  things;  though  my  discourse  was 
directed  to  the  Speaker,  it  appears  I  had  the  wit  and  raillery 
of  five  or  six  gentlemen  from  New  York  and  Connecticut  to 
withstand  and  reply  to;  it  appears  that  I  supported  it  with 
good  humor. 

"  It  appears  also,  by  the  testimony,  that  Mr.  Griswold,  in 
Mr.  Harper's  seat,  gave  me  a  most  cutting  insult.  The 
Speaker  whom  I  was  in  conversation  with,  heard  it  as  well  as 


286  MATTHEW  LYON 

some  others;  they  testify  that  I  did  not  appear  to  hear  it. 
Why  not  hear  it  as  well  as  they?  For  no  other  reason  than 
to  keep  up  the  prevailing  good  humor.  But  Mr.  Griswold, 
not  satisfied  with  the  insult  already  given,  says  to  one  of  the 
witnesses,  '  He  does  not  hear  me/  and  removes  and  intrudes 
himself  to  my  side,  pulls  me  by  the  arm  to  call  my  attention, 
and  then  more  particularly  and  more  deliberately  repeats  the 
insult,  knowing  it  to  be  the  most  provoking  abuse  that  one 
gentleman  could  possibly  offer  another. 

"  Under  all  these  circumstances,  I  cannot  but  entertain  the 
fullest  assurance  that  I  stand  justified  for  the  repulse  of  that 
deliberate  insult  offered  me  by  Mr.  Griswold,  in  the  view  of 
the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  of  every 
man  of  honor  or  feeling  who  shall  ever  hear  the  story. 

"Thursday,  February  15. 

"  FRACAS  IN  THE  HOUSE. 

"  (About  a  quarter  past  eleven  o'clock,  after  prayers,  whilst 
the  Speaker  was  in  his  Chair,  and  many  members  in  their 
places,  but  before  the  House  had  been  called  to  order,  and 
before  the  Journal  had  been  read,  Mr.  Griswold  entered  the 
House,  and  observing  Mr.  Lyon  in  his  place  (who  was  writ 
ing),  he  went  up  to  him  with  a  pretty  strong  walking  stick 
in  his  hand,  with  which  he  immediately  began  to  beat  him 
with  great  violence.  Mr.  G.'s  approach  was  observed  by 
Mr.  Lyon,  but  before  he  could  get  from  behind  his  desk 
he  had  received  some  severe  blows.  As  soon  as  he  got  on 
the  floor  of  the  House  he  endeavored  to  lay  hold  of  Mr.  G. 
(having  no  stick  or  weapon  in  his  hand),  but  he  was  pre 
vented  from  so  doing  by  Mr.  G.'s  falling  back,  and  the  contin 
ual  blows  with  which  he  was  assailed.  At  length  getting 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS 

behind  the  Speaker's  chair,  Mr.  Lyon  snatched  up  the  tongs 
from  the  fire;  the  combatants  then  closed  and  came  down  to 
gether  on  the  floor,  Mr.  G.  being  uppermost.  The  mem 
bers  of  the  House  who  till  now  seemed  to  look  on  with 
amazement  at  the  scene,  without  an  attempt  to  put  an  end 
to  it,  got  round  the  parties  and  separated  them,  but  not 
before  Mr.  L.  had  aimed  a  blow  at  Mr.  G.'s  head  with  the 
tongs,  but  which  he  parried  off.  The  Speaker  was  now  called 
upon  to  desire  the  members  to  take  their  seats,  and  form  the 
House.  Whilst  this  was  doing,  the  two  enraged  members  met 
again  without  the  bar,  and  but  for  the  doorkeeper  and  some 
gentlemen  present,  would  have  renewed  the  combat.  Order 
having  been  obtained  (at  least  as  much  as  it  was  possible  to 
obtain  from  the  agitated  state  of  the  House),  the  Clerk  pro 
ceeded  to  read  the  Journal,  and  the  business  of  the  day  was 
entered  upon.  It  continued  till  one  o'clock,  when  from  the 
perturbation  which  was  naturally  occasioned  by  such  a  scene, 
and  it  being  evident  that  business  was  very  little  attended  to 
by  a  great  part  of  the  House,  a  motion  for  an  adjournment 
was  made  and  carried.  It  will  be  seen  that  no  notice  was 
taken  of  this  proceeding  in  the  course  of  the  sitting.) 

"  Friday,  February  16. 

"  CASE   OF   GRISWOLD   AND    LYON. 

"  Immediately  upon  the  Journals  having  been  read, 
"  Mr.  Davis  of  Kentucky,  rose  and  proposed  the  following 
resolution  for  the  adoption  of  the  House : 

" '  Resolved,  That  Roger  Griswold  and  Matthew  Lyon, 
members  of  this  House,  for  violent  and  disorderly  behaviour 
committed  in  the  House,  be  expelled  therefrom.' 


288  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  Mr.  Nicholas  hoped  the  resolution  would  be  permitted  to 
lie  on  the  table. 

"  Mr.  Davis  saw  no  reason  for  delaying  a  decision  upon  this 
resolution.  He  thought  the  conduct  of  these  gentlemen  had 
been  so  grossly  violent,  and  so  notorious  to  most  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  House,  that  there  need  be  no  hesitation  in  deciding 
upon  it.  And  as  he  believed  neither  the  dignity,  the  honor, 
nor  peace  of  that  House  could  be  preserved  while  these  mem 
bers  remained  in  it,  he  hoped  the  House  would  be  unanimous 
in  voting  their  expulsion. 

"  Mr.  Thatcher  did  not  see  why  the  innocent  should  be 
punished  with  the  guilty.  The  gentleman  who  brought  for 
ward  this  proposition,  he  supposed,  did  not  wish  this.  From 
what  he  saw  of  the  affray,  he  did  not  think  Mr.  Lyon  deserved 
to  be  punished  for  the  part  he  acted.  He  certainly  received  a 
severe  beating,  but  he  appeared  to  be  passive  from  the  begin 
ning  to  the  end;  and  he  did  not  think  Mr.  Lyon  ought  to  be 
expelled  because  he  was  beaten. 

"  Mr.  J.  Parker  seconded  the  motion  for  the  expulsion  of 
these  members,  because  he  believed  there  would  be  no  peace 
in  the  House  until  they  were  expelled.  He  was  sorry  the 
gentleman  from  Massachusetts  should  have  said  he  saw  noth 
ing  but  what  was  passive  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Lyon.  He 
himself  saw  more,  and  that  gentleman  must  have  seen  it  if 
he  had  his  eyes  about  him.  He  said,  that  after  the  offending 
members  had  been  separated,  Mr.  Lyon  met  Mr.  Griswold 
without  the  bar  of  the  House  and  began  to  belabor  him  with 
his  cane,  when  they  were  again  separated. 

"  Mr.  Otis  proposed  the  following  resolution  for  adoption : 

"'Resolved,    That    Roger    Griswold    and    Matthew   Lyon, 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  289 

members  of  this-  House,  be  respectively  required  by  the 
Speaker  to  pledge  their  words  to  this  House,  that  they  will 
not  commit  any  act  of  violence  upon  each  other  during  this 
session;  and  that  if  either  refuse  to  make  such  engagements, 
the  party  refusing  shall  be  committed  to  the  custody  of  the 
Sergeant-at-Arms,  until  he  shall  comply  with  this  obligation.' 

"  Mr.  Sewall  understood  a  motion  had  been  agreed  to  in 
relation  to  the  affair  of  yesterday,  which  might  produce  an 
expulsion  of  the  members  in  question. 

"  The  question  was  then  taken  on  the  resolution  and  carried 
by  a  large  majority,  there  being  73  votes  in  favor  of  it. 

"  The  Speaker  asked,  whether  it  was  the  pleasure  of  the 
House  that  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  should  be  sent  for  Mr. 
Lyon. 

"  Mr.  Sitgreaves  said  it  might  not  be  convenient  for  Mr. 
Lyon  to  attend  the  House;  he  asked  whether  the  resolution 
might  not  be  sent  to  him,  and  his  answer  be  received  in  writ 
ing? 

"  Mr.  Nicholas  supposed,  that  if  both  gentlemen  prepared 
a  declaration  in  writing,  and  presented  it  to-morrow,  it  would 
answer  the  purpose. 

"  Mr.  Harper  replied,  the  mischief  intended  to  be  guarded 
against  might  in  the  mean  time  be  done. 

"  Mr.  Gallatin  said,  he  had  just  been  called  out  by  a  member 
of  the  House,  who  had  asked  him  whether  he  thought  it 
would  be  proper  for  Mr.  Lyon  to  attend  the  House.  He  sup 
posed,  therefore,  if  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  were  sent  for  him, 
he  would  immediately  attend. 

"  Mr.  Harper  hoped  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  would  be  sent. 

"  The  Speaker  said,  as  soon  as  the  Clerk  had  made  a  copy 


MATTHEW   LYON 

of  the  resolution,  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  would  wait  upon  Mr. 
Lyon  with  it. 

"  Mr.  Lyon  having  entered, 

"  The  Speaker  said,  the  members  from  Connecticut  and  Ver 
mont  being  now  in  their  places,  he  should  proceed  to  read  the 
resolution  which  had  been  entered  into  by  the  House.  (He 
then  read  the  resolution.) 

"  As  soon  as  it  was  finished  reading, 

"  Mr.  Griswold  rose  and  said,  he  should  not  hesitate  to  enter 
into  the  proposed  engagement. 

"  Mr.  Lyon  also  rose  and  said,  he  was  ready,  as  it  was  the 
wish  of  the  House,  to  agree  to  the  proposition. 

"The  Speaker  said,  then  you  do  accordingly  agree  to  the 
proposition? 

"  Both  answered,  '  I  do  agree.' 

"  Mr.  James  Gilles pie's  Testimony. 

"  James  Gillespie  being  sworn,  saith,  that  on  Thursday 
morning,  the  I5th  instant,  he  came  into  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  after  prayers,  and  the  Speaker  had  taken  the  Chair; 
that  whilst  he  was  warming  himself  at  the  fire  next  on  the 
right  of  the  door,  he  saw  Matthew  Lyon,  the  member  from 
Vermont,  come  to  the  letter  bag,  and  was  putting  in  some 
letters,  as  he,  this  deponent,  passed  him  going  into  the  House; 
that  he  also  saw  Roger  Griswold  sitting  in  a  chair  a  small 
distance  from  the  Speaker's  seat,  with  a  large  walking  stick 
standing  near  him;  that  I  went  immediately  to  the  alphabet 
and  made  search  for  my  letters,  and  as  I  turned  to  my  seat  to 
read  them,  I  heard  a  noise  of  blows,  etc. ;  on  looking  that  way, 
I  saw  Roger  Griswold  strike  Matthew  Lyon,  who  was  in 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  29! 

his  place  near  the  center  of  the  front  desk  opposite  to 
the  Speaker's  seat  where  he  was  then  sitting,  that  as 
Mr.  Lyon  was  getting  round  the  desk  he  received 
two  or  three  blows,  and  on  attempting  to  close  in 
with  Mr.  Griswold,  he,  Mr.  Lyon,  received  several  strokes 
with  the  stick  from  Mr.  Griswold.  That  the  deponent 
conceiving,  from  the  complexion  of  the  affair,  that  it  was  a 
preconcerted  plan,  did  not  interfere,  but  asked  the  Speaker  to 
call  to  order,  which  he  declined,  although  the  call  was  loud 
from  different  parts  of  the  House.  That  as  Mr.  Lyon  ad 
vanced  on  Mr.  Griswold,  he  retreated  back  towards  the  win 
dow  near  the  Speaker's  seat,  by  which  Mr.  Lyon  became  pos 
sessed  of  a  pair  of  tongs  and  struck  at  Mr.  Griswold,  on  which 
Mr.  Griswold  closed  with  him  and  they  fell,  and  in  a  little 
time  were  parted.  That  Mr.  Lyon  expressed  disapprobation 
at  being  parted,  and  said,  as  he  was  rising,  I  wish  I  had  been 
let  alone  awhile.  That  the  deponent  recollects  that,  as  he 
turned  to  his  seat,  he  saw  Mr.  Sewall,  from  Massachusetts; 
and  on  he,  the  deponent,  expressing  his  disapprobation  of  such 
conduct,  Mr.  Sewall  replied  it  was  right,  for  we  ought  to  have 
done  them  justice,  and  expelled  Mr.  Lyon;  to  which  I 
answered,  take  to  yourselves  all  the  justice  and  credit  that 
appertains  to  it;  and  went  and  read  my  letters,  and  heard  no 
more  for  some  time;  when,  looking  up  I  saw  Mr.  Sitgreaves 
going  out  of  the  south  passage,  with  a  walking  stick,  I  be 
lieve,  for  Mr.  Griswold;  and  then,  and  not  before,  the  House 
was  called  to  order,  when  this  deponent  thinks  it  was  more 
than  half  past  eleven  o'clock. 

"JAMES  GILLESPIE. 

"  Sworn  and  subscribed,  the  I7th  February,  1798. 
"  Coram :   Reynold  Keen. 


292  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  Questions  by  Mr.  Sewall. 

"  Question.  Did  not  the  conversation  you  suppose  to  have 
happened  with  me,  take  place  when  you  was,  and  I  appeared  to 
be,  agitated  with  the  confusion  of  the  scene? 

"  Answer.  It  was.  I  returned  to  my  desk  to  read  my  letters 
from  the  first  scene,  and  I  presume  somewhat  agitated. 

"  Question.  Are  you  in  any  degree  positive  of  the  words 
you  state  to  have  heard  from  me? 

"  Answer.  To  the  best  of  my  recollection,  these  were  the 
words  used,  or  they  were  words  to  the  same  effect. 

"Mr.  Havens' s  Testimony. 

"  Some  short  time  after  eleven  o'clock,  the  House  attended 
on  prayer.  After  this  was  over,  I  was  walking  in  the  south 
end  of  the  hall  without  the  bar,  and  saw  Mr.  Lyon  come  in, 
with  his  cloak  on,  and  go  to  his  seat,  which  is  the  fourth  from 
the  end  of  that  front  row  of  seats  which  is  on  the  left  side  of 
the  passage  leading  up  to  the  Speaker's  chair.  I  saw  him  pull 
off  his  cloak  and  take  his  seat,  and  perceived  that  he  had  a 
small  cane  in  his  hand,  which  he  either  put  between  his  legs, 
or  leaned  against  a  chair  beside  him,  in  such  manner  that 
the  end  of  it  was  under  the  long  desk  that  was  before  him. 
After  he  sat  down,  he  appeared  to  be  engaged  either  in  writ 
ing  or  reading  the  papers  that  were  before  him. 

"  It  was  then  about  half  past  eleven,  and  the  Speaker  was 
sitting  in  his  chair,  but  had  not  called  the  House  to  order; 
and  I  then  saw  Mr.  Griswold  coming  from  the  north  end  of 
the  hall  across  the  area  in  front  of  the  Speaker's  chair,  with  a 
large  yellow  hickory  cane  in  his  hand.  Although  I  was  look 
ing  that  way  as  I  was  walking,  I  did  not  notice  him  much 
until  he  came  within  about  six  or  eight  feet  of  Mr.  Lyon. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  293 

He  was  then  walking  across  the  floor  in  a  sidelong  manner 
towards  Mr.  Lyon,  and  Mr.  Lyon  was  sitting  with  his  face 
down  looking  on  his  papers,  and,  as  I  presume,  did  not  per 
ceive  the  approach  of  Mr.  Griswold ;  and,  if  my  memory  serves 
me  right,  I  think  he  was  sitting  with  his  hat  on.  As  soon  as 
Mr.  Griswold  had  come  in  front  of  Mr.  Lyon,  he  struck  him 
with  all  his  force  over  his  head  and  shoulders,  with  the  smallest 
end  of  his  cane,  repeating  his  blows  as  fast  as  possible.  Mr. 
Lyon,  I  think,  received  three  blows  in  this  posture  before  he 
rose  to  disengage  himself  from  the  desk  that  was  before  him 
and  the  chairs  that  were  on  each  side  of  him.  He  appeared 
to  be  then  trying  to  recover  his  cane,  which  was  under  his 
desk,  but  could  not  do  it  by  reason  of  the  violence  of  Mr.  Gris- 
wold's  blows  over  his  head  and  shoulders.  He  then  rose  from 
his  seat  and  got  out  at  the  end  of  the  desk,  defending  himself 
with  his  arms  against  the  blows  of  Mr.  Griswold,  and  then 
rushed  towards  Mr.  Griswold  and  Mr.  Griswold  retreated 
towards  the  front  of  the  Speaker's  chair,  and  endeavored  to 
keep  Mr.  Lyon  at  a  distance  from  him,  that  he  might  strike 
him  more  conveniently  with  his  cane.  There  was  no  person 
sitting  in  the  same  row  of  seats  with  Mr.  Lyon  when  this  as 
sault  began.  The  Speaker  was  in  his  chair;  and  as  soon  as 
the  assault  commenced,  I  expected  he  would  cry  out  '  order/ 
with  a  loud  voice,  but  he  did  not.  I  was  induced  to  suppose 
this,  because  I  always  understood  that  the  rule  of  the  House 
gave  the  Speaker  a  right  to  call  the  members  to  order  after 
the  hour  to  which  the  House  stood  adjourned,  although  there 
might  not  be  a  sufficient  number  of  members  present  to  pro 
ceed  to  business. 

"  From  the  situation  in  which  I  stood  I  could  not  well  per 
ceive  how  this  happened,  but  I  saw  Mr.  L.  on  the  floor  with 


294  MATTHEW   LYON 

Mr.  G.'s  head  and  shoulders  on  his  breast,  and  Mr.  G.'s  legs 
were  directed  towards  me  as  I  came  from  the  other  end  of  the 
room.     Mr.  L.  was  then  endeavoring  to  disengage  himself 
from  Mr.  G.,  and  had  raised  himself  partly  up,  and  I  then  per 
ceived  that  he  had  a  black  eye.     I  then  seized  hold  of  Mr.  G.'s 
left  leg  to  pull  him  away  from  Mr.  L.,  and  another  member, 
whom  I  afterwards  noticed  to  be  my  colleague,  Mr.  Elmendorf, 
seized  at  the  same  time  hold  of  Mr.  G.'s  right  leg  with  the  same 
view.  As  soon  as  we  had  done  this,  Mr.  Speaker  cried  out  to  me 
and  said,  'That  is  not  a  proper  way  to  take  hold  of  him.'     I 
asked  him  why?     He  replied,  '  You  ought  to  take  hold  of  him 
by  the  shoulders.'     I  said  it  would  not  hurt  him  to  pull  him  a 
foot  or  two  on  the  carpet.     We  then  in  this  manner  pulled 
Mr.    G.    from    off    Mr.    L.,    and    by    this    time    a    number 
of  other  members  had  gathered  round,  and  the  affray  appeared 
to  be  over.     I  then  walked  back  to  the  south  end  of  the  hall, 
to  the  place  where  I  stood  when  the  assault  began.     Mr.  G. 
then  passed  by  me,  and  went  to  the  easternmost  shelf  on  which 
water  stands  for  the  use  of  the  members,  and  was  drinking 
when  Mr.  L.  passed  by  me  with  his  small  cane  in  his  hand,  and 
went  to  the  same  shelf  to  drink  with  Mr.  G.     As  soon  as  Mr. 
L.  had  drunk  a  little,  he  looked  up,  and  perceiving  that  it  was 
Mr.  G.  who  stood  close  by  him,  he  said,  'Is  it  you?'  and  struck 
at  him  with  his  cane,  and  hit  him  upon  his  left  shoulder  or 
cheek.     I  observed  that  Mr.L.'s  blow  was  but  a  feeble  one,  and 
Mr.  G.  then  retreated  from  him  six  or  eight  feet.     I  then  saw 
Mr.  Sitgreaves  run  to  the  southeast  corner  of  the  room  and  get 
a  large  hickory  cane,  and  passing  by  Mr.  L.  with  a  good  deal 
of  animation  in  his  countenance,  he  put  the  cane  in  Mr.  G.'s 
hand.     Mr.  L.  then  put  himself  in  a  posture  of  defence,  and 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS 

said,  '  Come  on/  I  then  cried  out  '  Order! '  and  Mr.  Thom 
son,  from  New  Jersey,  then  stepping  up  and  looking  me  full  in 
the  face  said,  '  What  is  the  matter? '  I  replied,  I  would  have 
no  more  fighting  here.  Mr.  G.  then  retired,  and  Mr.  Speaker 
called  the  House  to  order,  and  so  the  affray  ended. 

"  Mr.  Gordon's  Testimony. 

"  When  separated,  I  saw  Mr.  G.  go  towards  the  outside  of 
the  bar,  I  suppose  with  a  view  to  take  some  water.  Shortly 
afterwards  I  saw  Mr.  L.  making  towards  that  part  of  the 
House  where  Mr.  G.  was.  He  approached  Mr.  G.,  who  was 
standing  at  the  entrance  to  the  bar,  and  struck  him  with  a  cane. 
Mr.  G.'s  cane  was  instantly  handed  him,  and  he  was  making 
again  towards  Mr.  L.,  when  there  was  a  loud  call  to  order  for 
the  first  time;  this  was  instantly  repeated  by  the  Speaker.  I 
laid  hold  of  Mr.  G.,  sundry  persons  threw  themselves  between 
him  and  Mr.  L.,  and  Mr.  G.  instantly  retired  and  took  his  seat. 

"  William  Gordon. 

"  Mr.  Elmendorfs  Testimony. 

"  From  my  seat,  which  is  the  second  in  the  third  row,  almost 
directly  behind  Mr.  Lyon's,  which  is  the  middle  seat  in  the 
front  row,  I  observed  him  in  the  same  posture  immediately 
before  I  heard  the  first  blow  of  a  cane ;  upon  hearing  which,  I 
observed  him  still  sitting,  with  his  arm  in  the  position  of  cover 
ing  his  head  and  warding  off  blows,  and  the  other  in  feeling, 
as  I  thought,  for  a  cane  on  the  floor,  beside  or  before  him.  I 
saw  Mr.  Griswold  at  this  time  on  the  open  floor  directly  before 
him,  beating  him  with  all  the  strength  and  dexterity  apparently 
in  his  power,  with  a  cane  of  the  stoutest  kind  of  American  made 
hickory,  and  repeating  his  blows  as  fast  as  I  thought  he  could 


296  MATTHEW   LYON 

make  them.  Under  this  pressure,  Mr.  Lyon  in  a  defenceless 
state,  made  out  of  his  seat  side-ways,  being  hemmed  in  before 
and  behind  by  the  desks  and  seats,  so  that  it  was  wholly  out  of 
his  power  to  escape  a  single  blow,  or  to  interrupt  Mr.  Griswold 
in  the  act  of  beating  him.  Immediately,  I  myself,  for  one, 
rose  in  my  seat,  and  loudly  and  repeatedly  called  out  to  the 
Chair  for  order.  I  heard  the  same  call  from  different  parts  of 
the  House ;  but  I  did  not  observe  nor  hear  any  effort  from  the 
Speaker  to  restore  it,  or  any  personal  attempt  by  any  one  near 
to  interfere  and  prevent  the  attack.  On  the  contrary,  I  think  I 
distinctly  heard  the  Speaker  reply  that  the  House  had  not  yet 
been  called  to  order,  as  a  reason  for  not  interfering  at  all.  As 
soon  as  Mr.  Lyon  had  got  out  of  the  row  of  seats,  he  made 
towards  Mr.  Griswold,  and  made  every  effort  to  close  with 
him,  as  it  appeared  to  me.  Mr.  Griswold,  on  his  part, 
avoided  this,  by  holding  him  off  with  his  left  arm,  stepping 
back,  and  continuing  to  beat  Mr.  Lyon  with  his  cane,  as 
before,  until  in  this  way  they  both  got  to  the  fire-place,  to  the 
left  of  the  Speaker's  chair.  I  then  heard  the  noise  of  the  tongs, 
and  immediately  after  saw  them  have  hold  of  each  other,  and 
Mr.  Griswold's  cane  falling  out  of  his  hand.  Soon  after  they 
both  fell,  having  hold  of  each  other,  Mr.  Griswold  partly  upon 
Mr.  Lyon.  At  this  time  I  got  to  the  place  where  they  were 
engaged,  and  called  out  to  part  them.  I  heard  the  same  cry 
from  behind  the  chair,  and  I  also  heard  the  opposite  cry  from 
others,  not  to  part  them.  Mr.  Havens  and  myself  each  took 
hold  of  Mr.  Griswold's  legs,  and,  I  think,  together,  drew  him 
off  from  Mr.  Lyon.  At  the  same  time,  I  think,  I  saw  others 
have  hold  of  Mr.  Lyon.  When  the  Speaker  observed  Mr. 
Havens  and  myself  taking  hold  of  Mr.  Griswold,  he,  with  ap- 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  297 

parent  warmth,  as  if  thereby  to  prevent  our  interfering,  called 
out,  in  substance,  as  nearly  as  I  can  recollect,  '  What!  take  hold 
of  a  man  by  the  legs!  that  is  no  way  to  take  hold  of  him/  Not 
withstanding,  I  persevered,  and,  I  think,  Mr.  Havens  assisted 
me,  in  drawing  Mr.  Griswold  apart  from  Mr.  Lyon.  Mr.  Lyon 
went  direct  from  that  place  to  his  seat,  where  he  got  a  small 
cane,  and  went  from  thence  south  of  the  bar,  where  I  saw  him 
and  Mr.  Griswold  soon  after  meeting,  and  Mr.  Lyon  making 
up  to  him,  Mr.  Griswold  retiring  from  Mr.  Lyon,  and  Mr. 
Lyon  making  a  blow  at  him  with  his  cane,  which  Mr.  Griswold, 
I  think,  received  on  his  arm  or  shoulder. 

"  The  loud  cry  of  '  order '  from  all  parts  of  the  House,  and 
from  the  chair,  here  put  an  end  to  the  affray. 

"  Mr.  Stanford's  Testimony. 

"  When  the  riot  commenced  in  the  Hall  of  Congress,  on  the 
morning  of  the  I5th  instant,  between  Mr.  Griswold  and  Mr. 
Lyon,  it  was  about  twenty  or  thirty  minutes  after  eleven 
o'clock.  Prayers  were  over,  but  the  House  was  not  yet  called 
to  order.  Sitting  in  my  chair,  I  was  attentively  reading  some 
letters  I  had  just  received.  In  an  instant,  the  sudden  bustle 
arrested  my  notice.  Not  having  observed  either  of  the  parties 
enter  the  Hall,  I  then  saw  Mr.  Griswold  on  the  area  of  the 
floor,  with  an  apparently  heavy  stick,  making  .a  blow  (perhaps 
not  the  first)  at  Mr.  Lyon,  who  was  between  his  desk  and  chair, 
in  an  half  rising  position.  This  blow,  I  think,  he  received  on 
his  left  arm  or  shoulder,  and  a  second  as  he  was  disengaging 
himself  from  among  the  desks  and  chairs.  Once  possessing 
the  floor,  he  essayed  to  join  Mr.  Griswold,  who  evaded  him  by 
a  retrograde  step,  and  a  third  blow,  which  fell  upon  Mr.  Lyon's 


298  MATTHEW   LYON 

head,  his  hat  being  off.  Then  beating  back  a  little  to  the  left 
of  the  Speaker's  desk  as  Mr.  Griswold  approached,  repeating 
his  strokes,  Mr.  Lyon  again  attempted  to  close  in  with  him, 
but  failed,  and  made  suddenly  behind  the  Speaker's  desk, 
which,  with  the  crowding  members,  for  a  moment  intercepted 
my  view.  Then  instantly  again  I  saw  Mr.  Lyon  with  a  pair  of 
tongs  elevated  for  a  stroke  at  Mr.  Griswold,  which  seemed  to 
be  somewhat  parried,  so  as  not  to  be  fully  made.  A  collision, 
I  think,  of  the  stick,  tongs  and  persons  now  took  place,  Mr. 
Griswold  about  this  time  lost  his  stick;  thus  clung,  they  came 
down  together.  The  fall,  I  rather  think,  I  did  not  see,  from 
the  intervening  members ;  but  when  down,  they  appeared  to  be 
grappled  about  the  head  and  shoulders,  and  Mr.  Griswold 
rather  uppermost.  The  confusion  of  the  House  was  great,  and 
the  cry  of t  Part  them  '  pretty  general.  Thus,  while  some  gen 
tlemen  were  disentangling  their  hands,  others  had  Mr.  Gris 
wold  by  the  legs,  and  were  pulling  him  away,  which  was 
effected. 

"  The  Speaker,  standing  on  the  steps  of  his  desk,  said  that 
it  was  either  unfair  or  ungentlemanly  to  take  a  man  thus  by  the 
legs.  General  McDowell  then  observed,  that  he  (the  Speaker) 
had  acted  his  part  in  the  business ;  and  the  Speaker  asking  what 
he  said,  General  McDowell  repeated  his  observation,  and  the 
Speaker  answered,  what  could  he  do,  the  House  was  not  called 
to  order,  he  could  not  help  the  event.  The  General  replied  he 
supposed  he  could  not. 

"  The  parties  having  been  separated,  and  left  at  large,  they 
casually  met  again  after  a  small  space,  at  the  south  water-stand 
without  the  bar,  when  Mr.  Lyon,  as  soon  as  he  appeared  to 
discover  who  it  was,  raised  his  stick,  which  he  had  got  hold  of 


THE    HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  299 

in  the  interval,  and  struck  Mr.  Griswold  on  the  shoulder  or 
arm.  The  stroke  was  quite  light,  being  hastily  made,  and  with 
a  stick  not  very  large.  Mr.  Griswold  then  beat  back  to  the 
entrance  of  the  bar,  where  some  one,  I  think  Mr.  Sitgreaves, 
ran,  and  met  him  with  a  similar  or  the  same  stick,  which  he  had 
lost  in  the  first  rencontre.  Mr.  Lyon,  also,  after  striking, 
stepped  back  from  the  water-stand,  elevated  his  stick,  and  stood 
in  an  attitude  of  defence.  Now  it  was  that  the  Speaker  called 
to  order,  and  no  other  conflict  ensued.  Mr.  Griswold 
presently  returned  to  his  seat,  and  Mr.  Lyon  remained  at  the 
water-stand. 

"  CASE  OF  GRISWOLD  AND  LYON. 

"  The  House  proceeded  to  consider  the  report  of  the  Com 
mittee  of  Privileges,  of  the  twentieth  instant;  and  the  same 
being  again  read  in  the  words  following,  to  wit : 

"  '  The  Committee  of  Privileges,  to  whom  was  referred  a 
resolution  in  the  following  words: 

' '  Resolved,  That  Roger  Griswold  and  Matthew  Lyon,  mem 
bers  of  this  House,  for  riotous  and  disorderly  behavior,  com 
mitted  in  the  House,  be  expelled  therefrom,'  with  instructions 
to  report  the  evidence  in  writing,  have,  according  to  the  order 
of  the  House,  proceeded  to  take  the  evidence,  which  they  here 
with  report;  and  they  report  further,  that  it  is  their  opinion 
that  the  said  resolution  be  disagreed  to.? 

"  Mr.  Giles  thought  it  would  comport  more  with  the  dignity 
of  the  House  to  decide  this  business  without  going  into  a  Com 
mittee  of  the  Whole,  as  he  believed  every  one  had  made  up  his 
mind  upon  it.  If  gentlemen  intended  by  the  course  hereto 
fore  taken  to  raise  the  dignity  of  the  House,  he  thought  they 


3OO  MATTHEW   LYON 

had  deceived  themselves;  for  he  believed  the  House  was  never 
in  a  less  dignified  attitude  than  during  that  discussion. 

"  The  question  on  agreeing  to  the  report  of  the  committee, 
which  recommended  a  disagreement  to  the  resolution  for  an 
expulsion  of  the  two  members  was  then  taken,  and  stood — yeas 
73,  nays  21. 

"  Mr.  R.  Williams  proposed  a  resolution  in  the  following 
words : 

" '  Resolved,  That  Roger  Griswold  and  Matthew  Lyon  for 
riotous  and  disorderly  behavior  in  this  House,  are  highly  cen 
surable,  and  that  they  be  reprimanded  by  the  Speaker  in  the 
presence  of  this  House/ 

"  And  the  yeas  and  nays  were  taken,  and  stood,  yeas  47, 
nays  48." 

Lyon  was  not  expelled;  Griswold  was  not  even  censured. 
The  spasm  of  virtue  which  broke  out  among  the  Federalist 
sticklers  for  the  proprieties  when  Mr.  Lyon  was  the  offender, 
and  the  purists  and  saints  were  bent  on  purging  the  temple  of 
the  Democratic  sinner,  evaporated  into  thin  air  as  soon  as 
Griswold  rushed  in  with  his  stick  and  proved  the  arguments 
of  his  friends  to  be  the  idle  vaporings  of  humbug  and  false 
pretenses.  The  purists  and  saints  became  the  apologists  and 
upholders  of  Griswold,  that  most  flagrant  violator  of  law  and 
order  who  has  ever  cut  loose  as  bully  and  bruiser  on  the  floor 
of  the  American  Congress. 

A  history  of  Congressional  brawls,  fisticuffs  and  duels  would 
be  replete  with  many  tragic,  some  amusing,  and  numerous  dis 
graceful  scenes,  as  a  glance  at  a  few  of  them  will  disclose. 

Andrew  Jackson  elected  to  Congress  from  Tennessee  in 
1796,  and  soon  transferred  to  the  Senate,  challenged  his  col- 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  3OI 

league  Senator  William  Cocke  to  fight  with  pistols.  Com 
promised. 

Senator  James  Gunn,  of  Georgia,  in  1796  challenged  Abra 
ham  Baldwin,  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  same  State,  to 
fight  a  duel.  Senator  Frederick  Frelinghuysen,  of  New 
Jersey,  bore  the  challenge.  Baldwin  laid  the  whole  corre 
spondence  before  the  House,  saying,  he  was  opposed  to  duel 
ling.  A  committee  was  appointed  with  Madison  at  its  head, 
and  Gunn  and  Frelinghuysen  apologized.  In  his  apology 
Gunn  got  off  a  parting  shot  at  Baldwin  by  observing,  "  that 
though  the  place  in  which  Mr.  Baldwin  has  thought  proper  to 
disclose  this  transaction  is  quite  unexpected,  it  shall  be  to  him 
an  inviolable  sanctuary."  Apologies  received  were  satisfac 
tory  to  the  dignity  of  the  House. 

In  1819  Senator  Armisted  C.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  the  friend  of 
Matthew  Lyon,  fought  a  bloodthirsty  duel  at  Bladensburg  with 
his  cousin  Col.  John  McCarty  of  the  same  State.  Mason  was 
killed  at  the  first  fire,  and  profound  feeling  of  national  horror 
was  aroused.  At  an  earlier  day  John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South 
Carolina,  and  Thomas  P.  Grosvenor,  of  New  York,  had  a  diffi 
culty  in  the  House,  and  a  duel  was  narrowly  prevented. 
Daniel  Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  and  John  Randolph,  of 
Virginia,  had  a  Congressional  misunderstanding,  and  the  latter 
challenged  the  former,  who  declined  to  submit  the  question  to 
the  code  duello.  When  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucy,  was  Secre 
tary  of  State  under  John  Quincy  Adams,  John  Randolph  made 
a  speech  in  the  Senate  denouncing  Adams  and  Clay  in  terms 
of  unparalleled  severity.  Clay  challenged  Randolph,  and 
Colonel  Benton,  who  was  second  to  the  latter,  has  a  very  in 
teresting  account  of  the  fight  in  his  "Thirty  Years'  View  in  the 


3O2  MATTHEW   LYON 

United  States  Senate."  Colonel  Benton  himself  had  a  terrible 
hand  to  hand  pistol  and  sword  fight  with  Andrew  Jackson  at 
Nashville,  next  killed  Mr.  Lucas,  of  Missouri,  in  a  duel,  and 
afterwards  came  near  being  killed  himself  on  the  floor  of  the 
Senate  by  the  irrepressible  Henry  S.  Foote,  Senator  from  Mis 
sissippi.  "  Let  the  assasin  shoot,"  exclaimed  Old  Bullion,  ad 
vancing  upon  his  foe,  as  Governor  Foote  during  a  stormy  de 
bate  drew  out  his  pistol  and  was  leveling  it  at  the  Missourian, 
when  several  other  Senators  rushed  between  the  two  and  pre 
vented  a  collision.  Governor  Foote  at  a  subsequent  day  had 
a  quarrel  in  the  Senate  with  Col.  Jahn  C.  Fremont,  of  Califor 
nia.  The  dispute  was  renewed  in  the  lobby,  when  Foote 
knocked  down  the  Pathfinder.  On  another  occasion  Foote 
and  Jefferson  Davis,  the  two  Senators  from  Mississippi,  had  a 
fight  at  the  breakfast  table  in  Mr.  Price's  boarding  house  on 
Capitol  Hill.  William  H.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  killed  his 
man  in  one  duel,  and  in  another  was  wounded  by  Gov.  John  C. 
Clark,  of  Georgia.  In  1838  Representatives  Turney,  of  Ten 
nessee,  and  Bell  of  the  same  State,  had  a  free  fight  on  the  floor 
of  the  House.  In  1840  Henry  A.  Wise  and  George  W.  Hop 
kins,  both  of  Virginia,  got  into  a  wordy  war  in  the  House. 
Jesse  A.  Bynam  crossed  over  to  Rice  Garland's  seat,  and  when 
in  his  hearing  insulted  him  directly.  Garland  struck  Bynam  a 
heavy  blow.  "  They  had  a  fisticiff  bout  till  they  were  parted," 
says  John  Quincy  Adams  in  his  Memoirs  and  Diary,  and  adds, 
"  There  was  an  electrical  shock  of  confusion  in  the  House." 
The  Speaker  called  to  order  "  and,"  the  ironical  ex-President 
concludes,  "  the  lamentation  speeches  began."  The  same  Mr. 
Bynam,  of  North  Carolina,  and  Daniel  Jenifer,  from  Maryland, 
subsequently  fought  a  duel. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF   CONGRESS  303 

In  1841  Representative  John  McKeon,  of  New  York,  spoke 
in  favor  of  striking  out  the  appropriation  for  the  Mission  to 
Naples.  Henry  A.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  and  John  Stanley,  of 
North  Carolina,  took  part  in  the  debate.  Stanley  called  Wise 
a  liar,  who  crossed  over  to  the  former's  seat  and  struck  him. 
A  fight  ensued  on  the  floor.  A  rush,  confusion,  chaos  for  a 
few  minutes,  and  then  a  call  to  order.  Wise  rose  and  apolo 
gized  to  the  House,  but  said  he  could  not  brook  the  insult. 
Stanley  said  he  had  no  apology  to  offer,  and  that  he  would  have 
whipped  Wise  if  let  alone.  In  1844  Congressmen  Thomas  L. 
Clingman,  of  North  Carolina,  and  William  L.  Yancey,  of  Ala 
bama,  fought  a  duel ;  after  an  exchange  of  shots  the  affair  was 
settled.  The  saddest  duel  since  that  of  Mason  and  McCarty 
in  1819  was  the  one  in  1838  between  Representative  Jonathan 
Cilley,  of  Maine,  the  schoolmate  and  friend  of  Longfellow  and 
Hawthorne,  and  Representative  William  J.  Graves,  of  Ken 
tucky.  Cilley  was  killed  and  popular  indignation  ran  high 
against  those  who  had  anything  to  do  with  the  fatal  meeting. 
Indeed  I  may  say  that  the  three  fatal  duels  of  Burr  and  Hamil 
ton,  McCarty  and  Mason,  and  Graves  and  Cilley  contributed 
more  powerfully  than  all  the  rest  together  to  render  the  odious 
practice  unpopular,  and  to  do  away  with  the  "  erudite  dis 
crimination  of  a  hair  trigger."  On  one  occasion  Gen.  Andrew 
Jackson  challenged  Gen.  Winfield  Scott,  who  declined  to  fight. 
On  another  (1832)  General  Samuel  Houston,  of  Texas  fame, 
ferociously  beat  Representative  Wm.  Stanberry,  of  Ohio,  with 
a  stick,  on  Pennsylvania  avenue. 

The  nearest  approach  to  Griswold's  attack  on  Lyon  in  1798 
which  has  ever  occurred  in  Congress  was  the  attack  on  Senator 
Charles  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate 


304  MATTHEW   LYON 

by  Representative  Preston  S.  Brooks,  of  South  Carolina,  on 
the  22d  of  May,  1856.  The  Senate  was  not  in  session,  but  a 
few  members  were  in  their  seats  when  Brooks  attacked  Sumner 
with  a  cane,  and  beat  him  with  all  the  severity  which  Griswold 
had  employed  against  Lyon.  Sumner,  though  a  large  man, 
did  not  display  Lyon's  pugnacity  (perhaps  he  was  disabled  and 
could  not),  but  the  attack  on  him  by  Mr.  Brooks,  although  Mr. 
Sumner  had  dealt  savagely  in  debate  with  Senator  Butler,  the 
uncle  of  Brooks,  was  justly  and  very  generally  denounced  as 
an  outrage.  During  the  same  year  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio, 
and  John  M.  Wright,  of  Tennessee,  had  a  scuffle  on  the  floor  of 
the  House.  Seizing  a  box  of  wafers  Sherman  attempted  to 
throw  a  handful  of  them  into  Wright's  face,  who  on  his  part 
dealt  Sherman  a  blow  with  his  fist  on  the  head.  The  latter 
attempted  to  draw  his  pistol,  but  before  he  could  do  so  mem 
bers  rushed  between  and  separated  them.  In  1858  Galusha  A. 
Grow,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  of  South 
Carolina,  had  a  regular  slugging  match  in  Congress.  The 
conflict  spread  to  others,  and  between  thirty  and  forty  members 
were  fighting  fiercely  in  front  of  the  Speaker's  desk.  Gen. 
William  Barkesdale,  of  Mississippi,  who  afterwards  fell  at 
Gettysburg,  rushed  at  Mr.  John  Covode,  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
seized  a  heavy  spittoon  and  was  about  to  throw  it  at  Barkes 
dale,  but  at  that  moment  somebody  grasped  the  latter  by  the 
hair  of  the  head,  which  proved  to  be  a  wig  and  came  off  in  the 
fierce  swoop,  leaving  him  perfectly  bald,  with  pate  glittering 
in  the  gaslight.  Everyone  was  moved  to  laughter,  when  the 
Sergeant-at-Arms,  with  his  uplifted  mace  and  helped  by  his 
posse,  finally  became  able  to  stem  the  heady  fight.  "  Last 
night  we  had  a  battle  royal  in  the  House,"  says  Alexander  H. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  305 

Stephens  in  a  letter  to  his  brother,  dated  February  5,  1858. 
"  Thirty  men  at  least,"  he  writes,  "  were  engaged  in  the  fisti 
cuff.  Fortunately  no  weapons  were  used;  if  any  had  been  on 
hand  it  would  probably  have  been  a  bloody  one."  Since  the 
civil  war  not  one  duel  that  I  can  recall  has  taken  place  as  a 
result  of  Congressional  wrangling.  Perhaps  people  got 
enough  fighting  at  that  dreadful  period  to  last  for  a  long  time 
to  come.  Laird,  of  Nebraska,  and  Cobb,  of  Indiana,  fought  in 
the  lobby  in  1886,  and  Congressman  Lowe,  of  Alabama,  chal 
lenged  warrior  John  Logan,  Senator  from  Illinois,  in  1879  f°r 
words  spoken  in  debate,  but  the  challenge  was  not  accepted. 
Fists  and  cudgels,  disgraceful  as  they  are  among  our  en 
lightened  statesmen,  are  not  after  all  so  bad  as  hair-triggers 
and  carbines.  A  black  eye  or  bloody  nose  is  better  than  a 
funeral  with  widow  and  orphans. 

The  first  Congressional  battle  has  never  been  eclipsed  in 
celebrity  by  any  subsequent  conflict  in  the  annals  of  Congress. 
Lyon  and  Griswold  hold  the  ribbon  as  the  most  celebrated 
Hotspurs  who  have  yet  entered  the  Congressional  arena. 


306  MATTHEW  LYON 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PERSONAL  WAR  OF  ADAMS  AGAINST  LYON — THE  ALIEN  AND 
SEDITION  LAWS  AIMED  AT  THE  VERMONTER — HAMILTON  AT 
THE  BACK  DOOR  OF  THE  ADMINISTRATION — THE  X  Y  Z  IM 
POSTURE — WAR  WITH  FRANCE  IMMINENT HAMILTON  DE 
STROYS  HIMSELF  BY  INTRIGUE LYON,  LIKE  JOHN  HAMPDEN, 

BECOMES  TRIBUNE  OF  THE  PEOPLE — -HIS  INDICTMENT,  TRIAL 
AND  CONVICTION — RE-ELECTION  WHILE  IN  PRISON  AND  TRI 
UMPHANT  RETURN  TO  CONGRESS. 

'"PHE  reader  of  the  last  chapter  could  scarcely  fail  to  be  im 
pressed  with  the  truth  of  Jefferson's  vivid  account  of  the 
afflicting  persecutions  visited  upon  the  Democratic  minority 
by  the  Federalists  in  Congress  during  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Adams.  Matthew  Lyon,  accustomed  to  speak  in  the  lan 
guage  of  no  master,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt,  and,  as  Chap 
lain  Ashbel  Green  worded  it,  he  refused  to  be  made  by  the 
"  dominant  Federal  party  the  butt  of  their  ridicule."* 

The  fracas  with  Griswold  who,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Green  asserts, 
was  "  confessedly  the  aggressor,"6  and  the  failure  of  the  de 
termined  effort  of  the  Federalists  to  expel  Lyon,  proved  the 
first  check  to  the  brow-beaters.  But  a  more  important  result 
of  that  failure  was  its  effect  upon  the  President.  It  roused 
the  bull  dog  in  John  Adams,  who  by  nature  was  quite  as  com 
bative  as  Matthew  Lyon  himself.  The  President  had  taken  a 

o  "  The  Life  of  Ashbel  Green,"  V.  D.  M.,  p.  267. 
6  Ibid,  same  page. 


JOHN  ADAMS. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  307 

dislike  to  the  Vermont  member  ever  since  his  outspoken  re 
marks,  at  the  preceding  session,  in  opposition  to  Congressmen 
trooping  through  the  streets  to  the  Executive  Mansion  to  make 
their  obeisance  and  answer  to  his  Majesty's  speech.  The 
President's  vanity  was  wounded  by  Lyon's  pungent  description 
of  the  ceremony  as  "  a  boyish  piece  of  business."  Cobbett 
was  let  loose  upon  the  offender,  Chipman  became  a  whisperer 
of  forgotten  gossips,  the  Griswold  incident  followed,  and  all 
to  no  purpose  the  Federal  hue  and  cry  was  raised  against  the 
Vermont  Democrat. 

After  the  mortifying  failure  of  the  dominant  party  to  cast 
him  out  of  Congress,  Lyon  became  a  thorn  in  the  President's 
side,  an  enemy  who  must  be  dealt  with  summarily  by  John 
Adams  himself.  A  presidential  election  was  approaching,  the 
contest  might  be  close — nay,  might  reach  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  for  ultimate  decision;  who  could  know  that  this 
aggressive  Democrat  might  not  have  the  vote  of  a  State  at  his 
command,  who  give  assurance  that  he  might  not  be  able  to 
write  across  the  House  of  Adams — Ichabod,  thy  glory  has  de 
parted?  Out  of  the  fear  of  such  grave  possible  contingencies 
were  ushered  into  life  those  misbegotten  twins  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  Laws.  Lyon  was  an  Irishman,  Lyon  was  a  bold, 
outspoken  opponent  of  the  Federal  party  and  all  its  measures. 
He  must  be  gotten  rid  of  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  nets. 
If  he  escaped  the  perils  of  Scylla  for  aliens,  the  sedition  drag 
net  must  surely  wreck  him  on  Charybdis.  Mr.  Jefferson  in 
clined  to  the  opinion  that  those  odious  measures  were  framed 
primarily  to  catch  Albert  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Volney,  but  Lyon 
was  the  first  man  arrested,  and  I  am  persuaded  that  he  was  the 
principal  person  aimed  at  by  President  Adams.  Colonel  Lyon 


308  MATTHEW    LYON 

remarked  to  General  Stevens  Thompson  Mason,  Senator  from 
Virginia,  who  was  sitting-  at  his  side  during  the  vote  in  the 
House  on  the  passage  of  the  Sedition  act,  that  he  was  con 
vinced  the  measure  was  intended  to  catch  members  of  Con 
gress,  and  most  probably  would  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him 
self  first  victim  of  all.a  And  it  happened  precisely  as  he 
then  predicted. 

Once  having  made  up  his  mind  upon  any  subject,  John 
Adams  was  not  to  be  deterred  from  his  purpose,  if  it  was  pos 
sible  to  carry  it  out.  Advice  was  rejected,  and  advisers  were 
apt  to  be  snubbed  for  their  pains.  Bills  against  the  citizen, 
bills  against  aliens,  some  of  them,  like  Kosciuscko,  Volney, 
Dr.  Cooper  and  Matthew  Lyon,  among  the  most  patriotic 
adopted  Americans,  and  bills  defining  and  affixing  penalties 
of  sedition  in  terms  which  made  even  Englishmen,  whom  it 
was  meant  to  help,  start  at  the  wrench  they  gave  to  civil  liberty, 
were  forced  through  Congress  with  whip  and  spur  by  the  blind 
partisans  of  an  infuriated  President,  such  as  Dana,  Griswold, 
Sewall,  Harper,  Bayard,  Dayton,  and  their  fellow  madmen  in 
the  Senate.  These  congeners  of  despotism  forgot  the  pro 
phecy:  "They  have  sown  the  wind,  and  they  shall  reap  the 
whirlwind."  Even  the  London  newspapers  expressed  as 
tonishment  at  John  Adams's  rule  or  ruin  excesses.  "  I  en 
close  you  a  column,"  writes  Thomas  Jefferson  to  John  Taylor 
of  Caroline,  "  cut  out  of  a  London  paper,  to  show  you  that  the 
English,  though  charmed  with  our  making  their  enemies  our 
enemies,"  (the  French),  "  yet  blush  and  weep  over  our  sedition 


a  Letter  of  Colonel  Lyon  to  General  Mason,  from  Vergennes  Jail, 
October  14,  1798. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  309 

law."a  One  of  the  curious  features  of  those  monarchial 
days  was  the  absurd  custom  of  sending  forward  plethoric, 
Oriental  addresses  to  the  President  from  various  cities  and 
towns  throughout  the  country,  fumes  of  flattery  importing 
nothing  but  servile  adulation,  and  couched  in  language  which 
would  make  a  king  blush  for  his  sycophants. 

"  The  answers  of  Mr.  Adams  to  his  addresses,"  exclaims 
the  thoughtful  Madison,  "  form  the  most  grotesque  scene  in 
the  tragi-comedy  acting  by  the  Government.  They  present 
not  only  the  grossest  contradictions  to  the  maxims,  measures 
and  language  of  his  predecessor,  and  the  real  principles  and 
interests  of  his  constituents,  but  to  himself.  He  is  verifying 
completely  the  last  feature  in  the  character  drawn  of  him  by 
Dr.  Franklin,  however  his  title  may  stand  to  the  two  first, 
'Always  an  honest  man,  often  a  wise  one,  but  sometimes  wholly 
out  of  his  senses.'  " 

Can  it  be  possible  that  President  Adams  regarded  all  this 
speechifying  and  addressing  him  as  anything  more  than  mere 
echoes  of  rhetoric?  Perhaps  he  took  it  seriously.  He  told 
General  Washington  that  it  afforded  him  great  comfort,  and 
was  "  very  precious  "  to  him.6  Echoes  of  praise  to  one's 
face  are  a  poor  substitute  for  the  addresses  of  orators.  But 
after  all,  are  not  nine-tenths  or  more  of  congressional  speeches, 
pulpit  oratory  and  platform  lectures,  leaving  out  of  view  the 
turgid  utterances  of  flatterers  and  courtiers  entirely,  the  mere 
counterfeits  of  true  eloquence?  Are  they  not  the  echoes  of 
real  things — not  real  things  themselves, — vanishing  voices  full 
of  emptiness,  or  "  of  sound  and  fury  signifying  nothing? " 


o  "  Jefferson's  Works/'  IV,  260. 

6  "  Works  of  John  Adams,"  VIII,  573. 


3IO  MATTHEW   LYON 

But  real  speeches,  no  one  except  an  orator  makes  them,  no 
one  save  a  great  orator  clothes  them  with  life,  and  no  one  but 
a  good  man  can  be  a  great  orator.  Quintilian  says  it,  and 
Quintilian  is  right,  nullus  orator  nisi  vir  bonus.  I  am  truly 
glad  that  those  vagabond  addresses  to  our  Presidents,  "  ap 
probatory/'  as  Mr.  Adams  styles  them,  and  the  congressional 
street  pageants,  against  which  Matthew  Lyon  lifted  up 
his  solitary  voice  in  the  heyday  of  the  old  Federal  party,  as 
well  as  the  monarchy-breeding  birthdays,  have  passed  into 
limbo,  with  much  other  rubbish  that  then  encumbered  the 
earth. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  even  so  faction-ridden,  narrow-minded 
a  body  as  the  Fifth  Congress  could  have  been  brought  up  to 
the  starting  point  in  the  race  to  muzzle  the  press  and  annihilate 
the  liberty  of  the  person,  if  Alexander  Hamilton  had  not  com 
bined  with  John  Adams  to  subvert  the  Constitution  by  the 
passage  of  the  alien  and  sedition  laws.  Hamilton  was  too  clear 
headed  a  man  not  to  perceive  the  dangers  ahead;  but  he  had 
ulterior  designs  of  his  own  to  accomplish,  and  in  spite  of  his 
known  dislike  of  Adams,  he  now  joined  hands  with  that  furious 
gentleman  in  the  dance  of  death.  Centralization  of  Govern 
ment  on  an  English  model  was  his  dream,  and  the  alien  and 
sedition  acts  as  means  to  an  end,  coarse  and  brutal  means 
which  shocked  Hamilton's  keener  sense  of  choice  of  weapons, 
the  scimetar,  not  the  battle-axe  being  his  preference,  recon 
ciled  antipathies  and  forced  the  game.  The  headlong  John 
Adams  sometimes  startled  the  shrewd  Alexander  Hamilton, 
but  on  went  the  dance,  until  locked  arms  the  merry  pair  dis 
appeared  over  the  yawning  precipice.  "  I  have  this  moment 
seen  a  bill  brought  into  the  Senate,"  said  Hamilton  in  a  letter 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  31 1 

to  Wolcott,  June  29,  1798,  "  Entitled  'A  bill  to  define  more 
particularly  the  crime  of  Treason,  etc.'  There  are  provisions 
in  this  bill  which,  according  to  a  cursory  view,  appear  to  me 
highly  exceptionable,  and  such  as,  more  than  anything  else, 
may  endanger  civil  war."a 

Hamilton  knew  the  full  meaning  of  that  profound  observa 
tion  of  Madison,  the  father  of  the  Constitution,  "  Perhaps  it  is 
a  universal  truth  that  the  loss  of  liberty  at  home  is  to  be 
charged  to  provisions  against  danger,  real  or  pretended,  from 
abroad."  How  true  it  was  then  when  there  was  an  astute 
Hamilton  to  work  up  his  countrymen  over  "  danger,  real  or 
pretended,  from  abroad;"  and  alas,  how  true  it  is  at  this  very 
day  when  our  would-be  Hamiltons  are  endeavoring  to  kindle 
a  like  flame  which  imperceptibly  may  spread  into  a  destruc 
tive  conflagration.  A  war  with  France  was  the  royal  road 
to  the  realization  of  the  Hamilton  dream.  Our  war  to-day 
in  Asia  sheds  a  lurid  light  on  the  long  cherished  Monroe  doc 
trine,  and  the  farewell  address  of  Washington  becomes  in  such 
a  presence  a  solecism  and  solemn  mockery  of  words.  How 
subtly  Hamilton  played  his  hand  the  memoirs  of  the  various 
worthies  of  that  day  clearly  reveal.  Monroe  was  recalled  from 
France,  and  grossly  traduced  by  Adams  and  Pickering.  New 
ministers  or  special  envoys  were  despatched  to  Talleyrand  and 
the  mad  Directory.  Pinckney,  a  Hamilton  man,  Marshall,  a 
Hamilton  man,  and  Gerry,  an  Adams  man,  vice  Dana  another 
Hamilton  man,  declined,  were  the  trio  of  envoys  sent  out  to 
France  to  pick  a  quarrel,  rather  than  compose  strife  and  restore 
harmony  between  the  two  countries.  Hamilton  strenuously 
sought  to  prevent  the  selection  of  Elbridge  Gerry,  the  only 

o  "  Works  of  Hamilton,"  VI,  307. 


312  MATTHEW   LYON 

man  of  the  three  not  under  his  influence,  and  was  infinitely 
disgusted  at  the  obstinacy  of  John  Adams,  never  more  for 
tunately  for  the  welfare  of  the  country  brought  into  play,  in 
insisting  upon  Gerry's  appointment,  and  drawing  from  the 
flush  hand  of  his  adversary  one  of  his  three  best  trumps. 
While  Pinckney  and  Marshall  were  strong  anti-Gallicans, 
Gerry  felt  lingering  regard  for  our  ally  and  mainstay  in  the 
war  of  Independence. 

The  French  government  temporized  with  the  envoys,  and 
delayed  their  recognition.  During  this  period  of  suspense, 
Messieurs  X,  Y  and  Z,  (Hottinguer,  Bellamy  and  Hauteval,) 
three  enterprising  swindlers  whom  Pinckney  and  Marshall 
credited  to  Talleyrand,  but  whom  Talleyrand  indignantly  re 
pudiated,  and  demanded  the  names  of  the  culprits  as  soon  as 
he  heard  of  their  operations,  clandestinely  opened  secret  nego 
tiations  with  our  envoys.  This  was  a  windfall  to  Hamilton. 
No  sooner  were  the  envoys'  despatches  received,  containing 
particulars  of  the  confidence  game,  before  his  hectoring  partisan 
in  the  State  Department,  Timothy  Pickering,  set  foolish  John 
Adams  into  a  towering  rage,  and  laid  a  train  of  combustibles 
before  Congress,  by  sending  the  despatches  to  both  Houses 
with  the  most  incendiary  communication  ever  received  by  the 
law  making  body  from  a  cabinet  officer  in  the  whole  history 
of  the  United  States.  Hamilton  at  the  back  door  had  read 
the  X,  Y,  Z  despatches  as  soon  as  Adams ;  indeed  it  is  probable 
that  he  was  often  more  the  President  than  the  man  occupying 
that  office,  as  his  sway  over  the  Cabinet  was  greater,  and 
through  those  faithless  men  he  knew  everything  and  directed 
many  things  that  transpired  in  Executive  circles. 

The  miserable  impostors,  W,  X,  Y  and  Z,  whose  farrago 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  313 

adroitly  worked  up  by  Pickering,  came  within  a  hair's  breadth 
of  precipitating  a  war  between  France  and  the  United  States, 
first  enjoined  inviolable  secrecy  upon  our  envoys,  next  claimed 
for  their  pseudo-diplomacy  the  approval  of  Talleyrand  and  sanc 
tion  of  the  Directory,  as  the  best  channel  of  approach,  and  then 
proceeded  to  submit,  among  other  things,  the  following  de 
mands,  which  the  envoys  told  them  they  had  no  power  to 
grant: 

ist.  A  loan  by  the  United  States  to  the  Directory,  as  a  con 
dition  precedent  to  the  suspension  of  the,  order  to  capture 
American  vessels; 

2d.  A  bribe  of  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling  for  the  French 
Ministry  and  four  of  their  corps.* 

Pinckney  and  Marshall  soon  left  Paris  in  disgust,  and  the 
Anglo-American  party  were  encouraged  by  this  step  which 
the  two  envoys  said  they  were  almost  compelled  by  the  French 
to  take,  to  expect  war  as  the  outcome  of  such  a  breach  of 
hospitality.  Hamilton  was  furious  with  Gerry  for  staying  be 
hind,  and  his  faction  opened  the  flood-gates  of  abuse  upon  that 
virtuous  man,  as  they  had  done  before  upon  the  upright  James 
Monroe.  Had  Gerry  come  back  with  the  other  envoys,  war 
indeed  would  have  followed.  But  the  French  government  was 
not  blind  to  the  schemes  of  the  English  party,  and  Talleyrand 
was  quite  a  match  at  intrigue  for  Hamilton.  Meantime  Hamil 
ton  was  in  the  ascendant  at  home.  The  publication  of  the  X, 
Y,  Z  despatches,  and  Pickering's  firebrand,  roused  patriotic 
Americans  of  both  parties  throughout  the  whole  Union  to  a 
pitch  of  warlike  feeling  against  France,  such  as  long  years 
afterwards  swept  over  the  North  against  the  South,  when 
a  "  Life  and  Works  of  John  Adams,"  VIII,  568. 


314  MATTHEW   LYON 

General  Beauregard,  upon  the  approach  of  the  fleet  secretly 
despatched  from  New  York  by  Mr.  Seward,  opened  fire  upon 
Fort  Sumter.  A  provisional  army  was  voted  by  Congress, 
and  General  Washington  was  appointed  by  the  President, 
Commander-in-Chief.  In  the  interchange  of  views  between 
Mr.  Adams  and  General  Washington  entire  harmony  prevailed, 
until,  as  Adams  stoutly  maintained,  and  later  publications  of 
their  writings  would  appear  to  make  probable,  Hamilton's 
ambition  to  become  the  practical  head  of  the  army  as  First 
Major-General  under  Washington,  and  more  especially  as  In 
spector-General  of  the  whole  of  the  forces  of  the  United  States, 
was  brought  to  bear  in  a  secret  manner  upon  General  Wash 
ington,  and  made  that  venerable  man  a  partisan  of  Hamilton. 
Then  Adams  began  to  get  restive.  He  himself  had  out- 
Heroded  Herod  in  vociferation  for  war,  and  for  the  passage 
of  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  and  alarmed  thoughtful  men  by 
what  Colonel  Lyon  truthfully  described  as  his  "  continual  grasp 
for  power,"  and  "  unbounded  thirst  for  ridiculous  pomp."  But 
Hamilton  as  dictator  sorely  chafed  the  President. 

Talleyrand,  through  one  of  his  agents,  Pichon,  opened  com 
munications  with  William  Vans  Murray,  American  Minister 
to  the  Hague,  and  Elbridge  Gerry  informed  President  Adams 
that  Talleyrand  on  behalf  of  the  Directory  had  assured  him  of 
their  unqualified 'willingness  to  receive  any  ambassador  sent 
by  the  United  States  to  France,  with  a  view  to  a  lasting  peace 
between  the  two  nations.  The  X,  Y,  Z  imposture,  which  had 
thrown  the  United  States  into  a  war  fever,  in  the  light  of  these 
overtures,  began  to  lose  its  potency.  General  Washington,  al 
though  a  true  friend  of  Hamilton,  put  private  friendship 
behind  him  whenever  it  interfered  with  patriotic  duty.  Joel 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  315 

Barlow  wrote  Washington  a  frank  and  manly  letter  from  Paris, 
telling  him  in  the  most  positive  manner  that  France  wanted 
peace  with  this  country.  Although  he  had  never  received  a 
letter  from  Barlow  before,  and  was  inclined  to  regard  him  in  an 
unfriendly  light,  and  although  some  friction  had  been  created 
between  John  Adams  and  himself  in  relation  to  Hamilton, 
Washington  immediately  sent  Barlow's  letter  to  the  President, 
urged  its  most  dispassionate  consideration,  and  offered  to  reply 
to  it  in  any  terms  which  President  Adams  might  dictate.  I 
can  recall  few  actions  in  Washington's  whole  life,  in  view  of 
all  the  circumstances,  which  reveal  the  reserved  strength  and 
majesty  of  his  patriotism  more  strikingly  than  his  conduct  at 
this  trying  moment.  The  Hamilton  faction  had  once  swayed 
him  in  the  Edmund  Randolph  affair  from  that  inflexible  im 
partiality  which  was  habitual  to  him;  in  the  present  crisis 
with  France  he  had  arrayed  himself  on  the  side  of  Hamilton 
and  against  the  President,  but  when  the  cause  of  his  country 
was  put  in  the  balance,  all  else  became  insignificant,  and  Wash 
ington  sheathed  his  sword,  and  advised  Adams  to  make  one 
more  stand  for  peace  with  France. 

Hamilton  often  played  too  fine  a  game  of  petty  politics  for 
a  statesman  of  his  calibre.  A  few  weeks  before  the  expiration 
of  the  political  year  in  New  York,  he  wrote  to  John  Jay, 
Governor  of  that  State,  May  7,  1800,  urging  him  to  override 
the  popular  will,  as  expressed  at  the  ballot  box,  by  a  stretch 
of  arbitrary  power  which  would  disgrace  a  ward  politician. 
The  people  of  New  York  had  just  elected  a  new  Democratic 
Legislature  for  the  express  purpose  of  choosing  through  that 
agency  presidential  electors.  Having  submitted  the  choice  to 
the  people  and  lost,  Hamilton  wanted  Jay  to  reconvene  the 


316  MATTHEW   LYON 

rejected  Federalist  Legislature  to  perform  the  duty  of  appoint 
ing  presidential  electors  which  the  people  had  taken  away 
from  them,  and  given  to  others  at  the  polls.  But  in  the  opinion 
of  Hamilton  the  defeat  of  Jefferson  as  President  of  the  United 
States  would  be  more  important  than  the  laws  of  decency  or 
the  voice  of  the  people  at  the  ballot  box,  and  he  advised  the 
Governor  to  take  this  despotic,  or  as  he  was  pleased  to  call 
it,  "  legal  and  constitutional  step,  to  prevent  an  atheist  in  re 
ligion,  and  a  fanatic  in  politics,  from  getting  possession  of 
the  helm  of  state."a  Governor  Jay,  as  Hamilton  knew, 
was  a  very  religious  man,  and  a  thorough  Federalist  in  politics, 
but  unfortunately  for  the  present  purpose,  he  was  also  a  high 
toned,  honorable  man.  The  adroit  appeal  to  him  was  fruitless. 
"Atheist "  and  "  fanatic  "  are  words  nowhere  to  be  found  in 
the  Constitution  or  the  laws,  and  in  no  sense  could  they  be 
applied  with  justice  to  Mr.  Jefferson.  Von  Hoist  and  Bryce, 
and  other  foreign  bookmakers,  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  and  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt,  and  others  of  our  own  political  pamphleteers, 
have  held  up  Alexander  Hamilton  to  admiration  as  the  exemplar 
of  most  of  the  civic  virtues,  and  easily  first  of  American  states 
men;  but  the  future  historian  will  revise  the  words  of  these 
eulogists,  and  draw  the  character  of  Hamilton  in  colors  more 
sober  and  subdued.  What  a  contrast  he  presents  to  Governor 
Jay  in  this  proposal  to  stifle  the  voice  of  the  people.  The  only 
notice  the  Governor  deigned  to  take  of  Mr.  Hamilton's  un 
scrupulous  request  was  the  following  lofty  rebuke  endorsed 
upon  his  letter :  "  Proposing  a  measure  for  party  purposes, 
which  I  think  it  would  not  become  me  to  adopt."6 

«  "  Works  of  Alexander  Hamilton,"  VI,  438. 

&  "  Life  of  John  Jay,"  by  his  Son  William  Jay,  I,  414. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  317 

President  Adams,  after  pouring  forth  one  tirade  after  an 
other  against  France,  and  after  having  gone  beyond  Hamilton 
in  fastening  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  upon  the  country,  at 
last  regained  his  senses,  and  opened  his  eyes  to  the  fact  that 
Hamilton  had  been  running  his  great  office  by  aid  of  his 
cabinet,  while  he  himself  had  been  playing  Ajax  defying  the 
lightning,  locking  up  Matthew  Lyon  in  jail,  and  driving 
Frenchmen  by  the  ship  load  back  to  Europe.  After  he  heard 
from  Gerry,  read  the  denials  of  Talleyrand,  beheld  the  fine 
Machiavellian  hand  of  Hamilton  coming  between  him  and  the 
appointing  power  to  the  army,  felt  its  coercive  influence  almost 
to  a  rupture  between  himself  and  the  father  of  his  country, 
the  old  Braintree  hero  waked  up  in  earnest,  and  resolved  to 
be  the  pack-horse  no  longer  of  the  cunning  men  who  sur 
rounded  him.0  The  climax  was  reached  when  Washington  in 
tervened  to  compel  the  appointment  of  Hamilton  over  Knox 
and  Pinckney.  "  There  has  been  too  much  intrigue  in  this 
business  with  General  Washington  and  me/'  exclaimed  Mr. 
Adams ;  "  if  I  shall  ultimately  be  the  dupe  of  it,  I  am  much 
mistaken  in  myself."6 

In  a  short  time  the  explosion  came.  Without  consulting  a 
single  member  of  his  cabinet,  for  he  now  distrusted  them,  with* 
out  a  word  of  warning  to  any  Federalist,  the  President  nomi 
nated  William  Vans  Murray,  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to 


«In  a  letter  to  James  Lloyd,  February  17,  1815,  John  Adams,  re 
ferring  to  Hamilton,  wrote  thus:  "Washington  had  compelled  me 
to  promote  *  *  *  the  most  restless,  impatient,  artful,  indefatigable, 
and  unprincipled  intriguer  in  the  United  States,  if  not  in  the  world, 
to  be  second  in  command  under  himself."  "  Life  and  Works  of  John 
Adams,"  X,  124. 

*Ibid,  VIII,  588. 


MATTHEW  LYON 

France,  and  by  a  single  stroke  of  his  pen  scattered  into  the 
region  kites  the  warlike  schemes  of  Hamilton,  the  would-be 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  of  all  the  anti-Gallicans  and  Anglo- 
Americans  in  the  country.  The  nomination  fell  like  a  thunder 
bolt  upon  the  Senate.  The  Federalists  induced  the  President 
to  add  Patrick  Henry  and  Oliver  Ellsworth  as  joint  envoys 
with  Murray.  But  Hamilton  was  down  and  out.  Wonderful 
man  that  he  was,  surpassed  by  no  one  of  his  day  as  a  statesman 
but  by  Jefferson,  and  equalled  by  no  one  since  as  a  political 
economist  but  by  Calhoun,  Alexander  Hamilton  was  yet  an 
intriguing  politician  whose  limitations  were  greatly  increased 
by  inordinate  ambition,  and  a  despotic,  and  sometimes  an  un 
scrupulous  temper.  Strange  was  the  drift  of  events  by  which 
he  became  the  only  Federalist  in  the  United  States  who  ad 
vocated  the  choice  of  Jefferson  as  President,  and  that  too  in 
the  self-same  year  in  which  he  had  opposed  his  election  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  "  an  atheist  in  religion  and  a  fanatic 
in  politics."  But  it  was  the  New  York  politician,  bent  on  a 
party  triumph  at  any  cost  over  his  hated  rival  Aaron  Burr, 
who  wrote  that  disreputable  letter.  He  threw  off  the  habits 
of  a  trickster,  and  rose  to  the  stature  of  a  patriot  a  few  months 
later,  when  he  advised  the  Federalist  marplots  in  Congress 
to  save  their  party  from  annihilation,  and  themselves  from  dis 
grace,  by  voting  for  Jefferson  and  against  the  Cataline  Burr  for 
President.  Not  one  of  them  had  the  sense  to  take  Hamilton's 
advice,  although  a  Massachusetts  Senator,  Mr.  Lodge,  a  few 
years  ago,  ignoring  the  facts  of  history,  made  a  futile  attempt 
to  attribute  Jefferson's  election  to  the  vote  of  James  A.  Bayard, 
of  Delaware,  in  blissful  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  Bayard  did 
not  vote  for  Jefferson  at  all,  but  in  the  thirty-six  ballots  of 


THE    HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  319 

the  House  voted  thirty-five  times  for  Burr,  and  when  the  final 
ballot  was  taken  he  put  in  a  blank  vote.a  Not  the  least  credit 
for  the  defeat  of  Burr  is  due  to  a  single  Federalist  in  Congress, 
except  Lewis  R.  Morris  who  was  absent  when  the  last  ballot 
was  taken;  not  the  remotest  to  any  Federalist  in  the  United 
States,  with  the  solitary  exception  of  Alexander  Hamilton. 
He  deserves  much  honor  for  that  great  service,  but  the  chief 
credit  belongs  to  Matthew  Lyon,  as  F.  S.  Drake6  and  Charles 
Lanmanc  have  said  truthfully,  and  as  the  ungarbled  facts  of 
history  abundantly  establish. 

When  the  alien  and  sedition  bills  were  under  discussion  in 
the  House,  the  Federalists  adopted  their  usual  haughty  tactics, 
and  with  insolent  demeanor  answered  the  constitutional  argu 
ments  of  the  Democrats  against  the  measures  by  coughs, 
laughter  and  personalities.  On  one  occasion  when  the 
minority  tried  to  amend  an  obnoxious  feature  of  one  of  the 
bills,  Harper,  Bayard  and  Speaker  Dayton,  under  the  plea 
of  urgency,  compelled  the  Democrats  to  give  way  by  lung 
power  and  brow  beating,  and  demanded  a  viva  voce  vote. 
Lyon  took  the  floor  in  the  face  of  a  storm  of  invective  from 
the  majority  side,  and  demanded  that  every  man  be  put  on 
record,  that  it  might  be  known  to  all  the  world  who  were  the 
friends  and  who  the  enemies  of  the  Constitution.  As  defeat 
was  certain,  Gallatin,  Macon  and  other  Democrats  asked  Lyon 
to  withdraw  his  demand  for  the  ayes  and  nays,  but  unawed 
by  the  clamor  of  the  Federalists,  and  unmoved  by  the  request 
of  his  less  unyielding  Democratic  friends,  Lyon  was  inflexible, 

a  Letter  of  James  A.  Bayard  in  "  Niles's  Register,"  November  16, 
1822. 

&  "  Dictionary  of  American  Biography,"  p.  571. 
c  "  Dictionary  of  Congress,"  p.  368. 


32O  MATTHEW    LYON 

stood  out  against  all  short  cuts  to  despotism,  and  like  John 
Hampden,  when  Charles  the  First  sent  to  collect  the  ship 
money  tax,  refused  to  pay  tribute  to  arrogant  power,  Hampden 
by  a  single  farthing,  Lyon  by  a  single  concession.  He  re 
newed  his  demand  for  the  ayes  and  nays,  but  on  a  call  of  the 
House  the  Speaker  ruled  that  one-fifth  of  the  members  not 
having  risen,  the  motion  was  lost.  Inch  by  inch  he  fought 
the  Federalists,  and  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  Lyon,  rather 
than  Gallatin,  in  this  great  constitutional  battle,  was  the  real 
leader  of  the  minority.  The  meagre  reports  of  the  debates 
at  that  day  give  no  satisfactory  insight  to  the  true  situation 
in  the  House.  There  were  but  two  or  three  reporters  of  the 
proceedings,  and  all  save  one  of  them  for  a  time  were  dropped 
by  the  Federalists.  In  the  days  of  the  venerable  Charles 
Thompson,  the  old  "  perpetual  secretary  "  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  the  proceedings  were  better  reported,  and  in  our 
own  day,  the  shorthand  art  and  enlarged  facilities  have  still 
more  fully  increased  the  accuracy  of  the  Congressional  reports ; 
but  in  the  days  of  the  alien  and  sedition  acts  I  have  been  aided 
in  only  the  smallest  way  by  the  Annals  of  Congress.  The 
newspapers,  the  letters  of  members  of  the  House  and  Senate 
to  their  constituents,  against  which  John  Adams  complained 
so  bitterly,  but  which  were  the  main  channels  of  the  friends 
of  liberty  at  that  day  to  reach  the  people,  and  the  memoirs 
and  works  of  the  statesmen  of  the  period  since  published,  all 
these,  rather  than  the  Annals  of  Congress,  have  furnished  the 
true  relation  and  voice  of  history,  by  which  I  have  been  enabled 
to  write  this  part  of  Lyon's  biography. 

The  feeling  of  exasperation  which  Lyon  provoked  against 
himself  in  the  minds  of  John  Adams  and  his  cabinet,  and  in 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  321 

those  of  the  leaders  of  the  Senate  and  House,  is  a  fair  indica 
tion  of  his  prominent  part  in  the  struggle.  When  they  could 
not  bring  him  to  terms  in  debate,  the  Federalists  would  demand 
the  previous  question,  and  some  of  Lyon's  most  persistent 
strokes  were  made  in  protests  against  that  gag  law  of  debate. 
He  attacked  the  tyranny  of  the  previous  question  with  a  vigor 
equal  to,  but  in  terms  not  so  learned  and  profound  as  those 
employed  on  the  same  floor  a  few  years  afterwards  by  William 
Gaston,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  men  who  has  ever  figured 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  We  have  a  full  report 
of  the  great  speech  of  Gaston  against  the  tyranny  and  usurpa 
tion  of  the  previous  question,  January  19,  1816.  Here  is  a 
short  passage  from  it  which  shows  that  he,  like  Lyon,  was  in 
earnest  in  championing  the  cause  of  freedom  of  debate :  "  The 
House/'  said  Judge  Gaston,  "  may  not  allow  debate  on  a 
motion  for  adjournment,  or  a  question  whether  language  be 
indecorous,  but  if  it  forbid  the  duly  constituted  agent  from 
performing  his  regular  and  proper  functions,  it  is  then  unsurpa- 
tion,  not  right;  it  is  abuse  of  power,  not  regulation.  The 
privilege  of  the  Representative  to  declare  the  will,  to  explain 
the  views,  to  make  known  the  grievances  and  to  advance  the 
interests  of  his  constituents,  was  so  precious,  in  the  estimation 
of  the  authors  of  our  Constitution,  that  they  have  secured 
to  him  an  irresponsibility  elsewhere,  for  whatever  may  be  ut 
tered  by  him  in  this  House ;  '  for  any  speech  or  debate  in 
either  House,  they  (the  Senators  and  Representatives)  shall 
not  be  questioned  in  any  other  place.'  The  liberty  of  speech 
is  fenced  round  with  a  bulwark,  which  renders  it  secure  from 
external  injury — here  is  its  citadel — its  impregnable  fortress. 
Yet  here,  even  here,  it  is  to  be  strangled  by  the  bowstring  of 


322  MATTHEW   LYON 

the  previous  question.  In  vain  may  its  enemies  assail  it  from 
without;  but  within,  the  mutes  of  despotism  can  murder  it 
with  impunity."a 

In  spite  of  all  opposition,  of  the  calm  closet  reasoning  of 
Gallatin,  the  fiery  eloquence  of  Giles,  the  sturdy  fidelity  of 
Macon,  the  unanswerable  arguments  of  Livingston,  the  Hamp- 
den-like  resistance  of  Lyon,  the  alien  and  sedition  bills  were 
carried  through  Congress  by  the  imperious  majority,  and 
became  the  law  of  the  land.  John  Adams  was  armed  with 
two  weapons  which  Mr.  Jefferson  solemnly  declared  meant 
monarchy,  with  a  reigning  dynasty  of  the  Adams  or  Hamilton 
family  on  the  throne,  or  the  restoration  of  George  the  Third, 
as  King.  Thus  wrote  Jefferson  to  Stevens  Thompson  Mason : 

"  Monticello,  October  n,  1798. 

"Dear  Sir.— The  X,  Y,  Z  fever  has  considerably  abated 
through  the  country,  as  I  am  informed,  and  the  alien  and  sedi 
tion  laws  are  working  hard.  I  fancy  that  some  of  the  State 
Legislatures  will  take  strong  ground  on  this  occasion.  For 
my  own  part,  I  consider  those  laws  as  merely  an  experiment 
on  the  American  mind,  to  see  how  far  it  will  bear  an  avowed 
violation  of  the  Constitution.  If  this  goes  down,  we  shall  im 
mediately  see  attempted  another  act  of  Congress,  declaring 
that  the  President  shall  continue  in  office  during  life,  reserving 
to  another  occasion  the  transfer  of  the  succession  to  his  heirs, 
and  the  establishment  of  the  Senate  for  life.  At  least,  this  may 
be  the  aim  of  the  Oliverians,  while  Monk  and  the  Cavaliers 
(who  are  perhaps  the  strongest)  may  be  playing  their  game  for 
the  restoration  of  his  most  gracious  Majesty  George  the  Third. 

a  Speech  of  Judge  Gaston  of  North  Carolina,  on  the  Rules  and 
Orders  of  the  House,  "  Annals  I4th  Congress,"  p.  702. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  323 

That  these  things  are  in  contemplation,  I  have  no  doubt;  nor 
can  I  be  confident  of  their  failure,  after  the  dupery  of  which 
our  countrymen  have  shown  themselves  susceptible.  Adieu. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"  THOMAS  JEFFERSON." 

In  an  examination  of  the  voluminous  writings  of  John 
Adams,  I  find  passages  of  great  bitterness  against  Matthew 
Lyon.  Even  after  his  retirement  to  private  life,  Adams  in 
dulged  in  occasional  outbursts  against  foreigners,  never  omit 
ting  Lyon  from  the  objurgations.  Here  is  an  extract  from  a 
letter  of  Mr.  Adams  to  Christopher  Gadsden  of  South  Caro 
lina:  "  Quincy,  16  April,  1801.  Is  there  no  pride  in  Ameri 
can  bosoms?  Can  their  hearts  endure  that  Callender,  Duane, 
Cooper  and  Lyon,  should  be  the  most  influential  men  in  the 
country,  all  foreigners,  and  all  degraded  characters? 
Foreigners  must  be  received  with  caution,  or  they  will  destroy 
all  confidence  in  government."6 

To  Benjamin  Stoddert  Mr.  Adams  wrote  still  more  fiercely, 
a  few  weeks  after  he  left  Washington:  "  Quincy,  31  March, 
1801.  If  we  had  been  blessed  with  common  sense,  we  should 
not  have  been  overthrown  by  Philip  Freneau,  Duane,  Callen 
der,  Cooper  and  Lyon,  or  their  great  patron  and  protector. 
A  group  of  foreign  liars  encouraged  by  a  few  ambitious  native 
gentlemen,  have  discomfited  the  education,  the  talents,  the 
virtues,  and  the  property  of  the  country.  The  reason  is  we 
have  no  Americans  in  America."0 

Fifteen  years  later  he  still  harps  on  the  same  string.     "  To 

«"  Jefferson's  Works/'  IV,  258. 

b"  Life  and  Works  of  John  Adams,"  IX,  584. 

clbid,  IX,  584. 


324  MATTHEW   LYON 

James  Lloyd.  Quincy,  6  February,  1815.  Mr.  Randolph  in 
his  letter  to  you  says :  '  The  artillery  of  the  press  has  long 
been  the  instrument  of  our  subjugation.'  .  .  .  And  which 
were  the  presses  that  formed  the  fortresses?  And  who  were 
the  engineers  that  directed  this  artillery?  Mr.  Randolph's 
own  dear  Cooper,  Matthew  Lyon,  etc."0 

With  Argus  eyes  the  Federalists,  after  the  passage  of  the 
alien  and  sedition  laws,  were  watching  every  movement  and 
utterance  of  Lyon,  and  John  Adams  yearned  for  an  oppor 
tunity  to  put  him  in  a  dungeon.  Lyon,  aware  of  their  purposes, 
became  more  circumspect,  and  took  care  to  utter  nothing  which 
would  make  him  liable  to  arrest.  He  instinctively  felt  that  he 
was  the  man  they  were  after,  and  determined  to  disappoint  Mr. 
Adams  and  his  myrmidons.  But  his  prudence  was  unavailing; 
his  hopes  of  fair  treatment  were  all  illusory.  When  John 
Hampden  refused  to  pay  the  few  shillings  assessed  against 
him  as  ship  money,  and  went  to  law  with  the  king  to  test  its 
constitutionality,  Charles  the  First  won  a  barren  victory  in  the 
Exchequer  Chamber,  by  a  vote  of  seven  to  five  of  the  judges, 
the  smallest  vote  possible  by  which  a  victory  could  be  won. 
But  by  that  victory  Charles  lost  his  throne  and  his  head.  Five 
of  the  judges  sustained  Hampden  and  voted  against  the  writ. 
"Till  this  time,"  says  Lord  Clarendon  in  his  celebrated  historic 
picture  of  Hampden,  "  he  was  rather  of  reputation  in  his  own 
county,  than  of  public  discourse  or  fame  in  the  kingdom;  but 
then  he  grew  the  argument  of  all  tongues,  every  man  inquir 
ing  who  and  what  he  was,  that  durst  at  his  own  charge  sup 
port  the  liberty  and  prosperity  of  the  kingdom.  The  judg 
ment  proved  of  more  advantage  and  credit  to  the  gentleman 

"Ibid,  X,  116. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  325 

condemned  than  to  the  king's  service."0  In  the  long  Parlia 
ment  during  a  fierce  debate,  shortly  before  the  king  entered 
the  Parliament  House  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the  five  re 
fractory  members  with  Hampden  at  their  head,  "  we  had 
sheathed  our  swords  in  each  other's  bowels,"  says  an  eye 
witness,  "  had  not  the  sagacity  and  great  calmness  of  Mr. 
Hampden,  by  a  short  speech,  prevented  it."6  Hampden  was 
put  into  a  cell,  but  the  English  people  set  him  free,  and  swept 
away  the  tyrant  who  imprisoned  him.  Over  forty  years  after 
Matthew  Lyon  was  imprisoned  in  Vergennes  jail  by  John 
Adams,  and  fined  a  thousand  dollars  under  the  odious  sedition 
law,  the  likeness  between  Lyon  and  Hampden  as  martyrs  of 
liberty  was  depicted  by  Waddy  Thompson,  of  South  Carolina, 
in  an  eloquent  speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Wash 
ington.  It  was  delivered  during  a  debate  on  the  bill  to  refund 
the  fine  Matthew  Lyon  had  paid,  with  interest  to  his  heirs,  and 
no  doubt  had  much  influence  in  securing  the  passage  of  the  bill. 
"  How  stands  this  matter?  "  said  Mr.  Thompson.  "  Why, 
a  man  who  ranked  among  the  patriots  of  his  country,  who 
was  cast  into  prison  under  an  odious  law,  one  who  de 
served  a  monument,  and  had  it  in  the  heart  of  every  true  man, 
and  who  stood  up,  one  in  ten  thousand,  against  power  and 
corruption,  yet  this  man  was  entitled  to  no  thanks  from  those 
who  came  after  him.  Here  was  a  man  who,  like  the  illustrious 
patriot  of  England,  John  Hampden,  had  stood  up  against 
power  in  high  places,  for  which  he  had  suffered  ignominy  and 
been  thrust  into  the  cell  of  a  felon,  and  yet  in  these  times 
objection  was  made  to  remunerating  his  heirs,  because  the 

0  Macaulay  on  Lord  Nugent's  "  Memorials  of  Hampden." 
&  Ibid. 


MATTHEW   LYON 

man  had  been  too  poor  to  pay  the  fine  himself.  That  country 
must  be  base,  indeed,  which  would  sanction  such  a  plea.  That 
country  no  longer  deserved  to  be  free  which  would  deny  jus 
tice  to  a  suffering  patriot  on  such  grounds.  (Mr.  Thompson 
here  produced  a  copy  of  the  order  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  to  the  marshal  of  Vermont,  requiring  him  to 
keep  Lyon  in  custody  until  the  fine  and  costs  were  paid.) 
Yes,  said  Mr.  T.  to  keep  him  in  jail  until  he  rotted,  unless 
the  money  should  be  paid.  (He  also  produced  a  copy  of  the 
certificate  from  the  marshal  showing  that  the  terms  of  the 
sentence  had  been  complied  with,  and  that  Matthew  Lyon  was 
consequently  discharged.)  Now,  after  what  he  had  read,  would 
any  gentleman  get  up  and  defend  the  Government  against  this 
claim?  Here  was  the  testimony  of  the  Hon.  Warren  R.  Davis 
in  his  report,  than  whom  a  man  with  a  purer  heart  and  a  better 
head  never  lived,  speaking  of  the  money  as  having  been  paid, 
and  also  the  certificate  of  the  marshal  to  show  that  the  fine  had 
been  exacted  from  this  patriot,  who  dared  to  stand  up  for 
those  great  rights  which  Milton  praised  as  above  all  others  man 
could  enjoy,  namely,  the  right  to  speak,  to  write,  or  to  publish. 
But  (said  Mr.  T.)  if  there  was  no  other  way  of  getting  rid  of 
the  money,  I  would  burn  it,  rather  than  it  should  remain  to 
pollute  the  treasury  any  longer.  The  country  ought  to  be 
glad  of  any  excuse  of  getting  rid  of  money  wrung  from  the 
pockets  of  a  patriot  by  such  an  odious  law."a 

The  events  which  now  transpired  in  the  career  of  Matthew 
Lyon  strikingly  confirm  the  appositeness  of  the  .analogy  to 
Hampden  so  forcibly  dwelt  upon  by  Waddy  Thompson. 
During  the  summer  of  1798,  after  the  adjournment  of  Con- 

<* "  Congressional  Globe,"  26th  Congress,  1840,  p.  413. 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  327 

gress,  Colonel  Lyon  returned  to  his  home  in  Fair  Haven,  and 
announced  to  his  friends  that  he  would  be  a  candidate  for  re 
election  to  the  next  Congress.  As  his  enemies  had  grossly 
misrepresented  his  views,  and  held  him  up  to  popular  reproach 
as  a  tool  of  France  and  enemy  of  the  United  States  in  the 
pending  controversy  between  the  two  countries,  he  prepared 
a  letter  for  publication  in  which  he  denned  his  real  opinions 
and  attitude  upon  public  questions.  This  letter  •  he  sent  to 
Dr.  Williams,  editor  of  the  Rutland  Herald,  who  refused  on 
any  terms  to  admit  it  into  his  columns.  Dr.  Williams  has 
written  a  History  of  Vermont,  but  his  conduct  on  this  occasion, 
in  refusing  a  hearing  to  the  other  side  argues  rather  un 
favorably  for  the  impartiality  of  his  History.  Colonel  Lyon 
was  not  the  man  to  be  reduced  to  silence  in  this  summary  way. 
He  forthwith  announced  a  new  semi-monthly  publication,  the 
first  issue  of  which  appeared  on  the  ist  of  October,  1798.  By 
the  courtesy  of  the  assistant  librarian  of  Yale  College, 
Mr.  F.  B.  Dexter,  I  have  before  me,  as  I  write,  the  original 
impression  of  this  first  issue.  On  the  outside  page  appears 
the  aggressive  name  in  the  words  following: 

"  The  public  are  here  presented  with  No.  I,  of  Lyon's  Re 
publican  Magazine,  entitled  The  Scourge  of  Aristocracy  and 
Repository  of  Important  Political  Truths."  The  title  of  the 
magazine  is  repeated  on  the  first  page  inside,  followed  by  the 
words,  "  By  James  Lyon."  This  was  the  oldest  son  of  the 
Colonel,  and  although  the  son  was  editor,  the  father's  contri 
butions  became  the  leading  feature  of  the  periodical.  The 
Scourge  is  printed  on  coarse  paper,  but  the  type  is  good  and 
new.  The  salutatory  begins  thus: 

(<  The  public  utility  of  such  a  publication  in  a  free  govern- 


328  MATTHEW    LYON 

ment,  even  in  a  time  of  tranquillity,  is  so  universally  acknowl 
edged  by  Republicans,  that  there  needs  no  argument  to  prove 
it."  It  then  proceeds  to  discuss  the  value  of  truth  "  at  this 
agitated  and  awful  crisis,  when  everything  is  industriously  cir 
culated,  which  can  corrupt  or  mislead  the  public  sentiment, 
and  prepare  the  American  mind  for  a  state  of  abject  slavery, 
and  degrading  subjection  to  a  set  of  assuming  High  Mighti 
nesses  in  our  own  country,  and  a  close  connection  with  a  cor 
rupt,  tottering  monarchy  in  Europe,  which  has  long  been  in 
tolerable  to  every  man  whose  breast  contains  the  smallest 
spark  of  the  amor  patriae.  When  every  aristocratic  hireling, 
from  the  English  Porcupine,  the  summit  of  falsehood,  detrac 
tion  and  calumny,  in  Philadelphia,  down  to  the  dirty  Hedge 
hogs  and  groveling  animals  of  his  race,  in  this  and  the  neigh 
boring  States,  are  vomiting  forth  columns  of  lies,  malignant 
abuse  and  deception,  The  Scourge  will  be  devoted  to  politics, 
and  shall  commemorate  the  writings,  essays  and  speeches  of 
the  ablest  pens  and  tongues,  in  the  Republican  interest.  Its 
great  object  shall  be  to  oppose  truth  to  falsehood,  and  to  lay 
before  the  public  such  facts  as  may  tend  to  elucidate  the  real 
situation  of  this  country." 

One  or  two  short  articles  which  appear  in  the  first  number 
are  here  reproduced: 

"  From  the  Vergennes  Gazette :  The  inhabitants  of  the 
northern  counties  were  prevented  last  week  from  availing 
themselves  of  their  Representatives'  liberality,  by  misfortune 
equally  singular  and  extraordinary.  As  the  driver  of  the  stage 
was  industriously  circulating  the  five  hundred  papers  so  gener 
ously  paid  for  by  the  patriotic  member,  at  the  Jacobin  press, 
the  horses  disdaining  to  prostitute  their  services,  set  off  full 
speed,  and  left  the  precious  cargo  in  the  mud;  the  driver  es- 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  329 

caped  '  with  limbs  unbroken/  but  dreading  the  consequences 
in  future,  solemnly  swore  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  papers,  consequently  they  were  left  in  a:  worse  plight  (if 
possible)  than  when  they  issued  from  the  press." 

Upon  the  foregoing  the  Scourge  remarks: 

"  The  above  is  a  true  specimen  of  the  low,  dirty,  deceitful 
manner  which  the  supporters  of  the  present  administration 
take  to  deceive  the  people.  .  .  .  The  insinuation  contained  in 
the  paragraph  I  have  here  copied,  I  can  assert,  and  produce  the 
proof,  if  necessary,  is  a  downright  lie,  in  toto — and  I  think  such 
language  is  good  enough  for  such  villains." 

The  movements  of  Bonaparte  are  thus  chronicled: 

"  The  public  are  undoubtedly  anxiously  waiting  the  arrival 
of  something  decisive  respecting  the  future  destination,  and 
real  object  of  the  immortal  and  unmatched  hero,  Buonaparte. 
All  that  I  can  announce  with  certainty,  respecting  his  move 
ments  since  the  sailing  of  the  Toulon  fleet,  is  his  capture  of 
Malta,  an  island  in  the  Mediterranean  between  Naples  and 
Africa,  inconsiderable  in  territory,  containing  150,000  inhabi 
tants,  extremely  rich,  being  thought  a  safe  retreat  from  French 
intrusion,  and  of  course  resorted  to  by  all  monied  emigrants 
from  France,  Rome  and  the  various  emancipated  aristocracies. 
Detached  from  other  objects,  Malta  would  seem  an  inconsider 
able  conquest  for  the  French  to  make  at  this  day;  but  taking 
into  view  the  object,  which  from  the  latest  accounts  I  presume 
they  have,  it  must  be  considered  the  most  important  acquisition 
possible  in  Europe,  and  will  become  to  them  what  Gibraltar 
is  to  the  English.  The  cutting  through  of  the  Isthmus  of  Suez, 
in  a  direct  line  is,  indeed,  not  possible;  but  a  junction  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea  with  the  Arabian  Gulph,  in  a  certain  sense, 
is  possible.  This  will  ensure  to  France  the  sovereignty  of 


330  MATTHEW   LYON 

Egypt  and  the  trade  of  all  the  eastern  world,  and  Malta  will 
become  their  stronghold  and  warehouse." 

But  the  principal  attraction  of  the  first  number  of  the 
Scourge  was  Colonel  Lyon's  political  letter  which  Dr.  Williams 
would  not  publish.  The  Colonel  adopted  the  ingenious 
method  of  Cicero  laid  down  in  his  De  Oratore,  and  presented 
his  views  in  colloquy.  The  Federalists  were  disappointed  by 
this  very  adroit  letter,  which  did  not  contain  one  word  even 
constructively  seditious.  I  here  present  it. 

A  letter  from  Col.  Matthew  Lyon,  Member  of  Congress 
form  the  Western  District  of  Vermont,  to  his  constituents : 

"  FELLOW  CITIZENS  :  At  a  time  when  all  tongues  which  have 
been  accustomed  to  move  for  hire,  and  two  presses  under  the 
influence  of  those  wretched  calumniators  are  incessantly  em 
ployed  to  abuse,  vilify  and  falsely  accuse  me — when  any  de 
fence  of  mine  will  not  be  admitted  in  the  Rutland  paper — and 
when  the  communication  between  Windsor  and  this  place  is 
so  greatly  impeded;  I  am  induced  to  have  recourse  to  this 
method  of  a  pamphlet  publication,  which  I  cannot  but  believe 
will  be  excusable,  under  the  existing  circumstances. 

"  While  virulence  and  villainy  is  carried  to  such  a  height, 
as  even  to  assert  that  I  dare  not,  nor  cannot  defend  myself; 
a  conversation  which  I  had  a  few  days  since,  with  an  honest 
neighbor,  on  these  subjects  has  occurred  to  me,  as  the  plainest 
and  readiest  method  to  communicate  my  ideas;  I  therefore 
present  you  with  a  transcript  of  it,  as  near  as  I  recollect. 

"  Neighbor. — I  am  glad  to  see  you,  Colonel  Lyon.  The 
newspapers  are  so  full  of  one  thing  or  another  about  you,  that 
I  have  been  for  some  time  past  determined,  as  soon  as  I  saw 
you,  to  know  what  you  had  to  say  to  these  things.  I  see  you 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  331 

are  charged  with  being  opposed  to  our  Government.     What 
have  you  to  say  to  it? 

"  Lyon. — It  was  my  fortune  to  be  called  to  take  my  seat 
in  Congress,  at  a  time  when  the  French,  under  pretence  of 
aggression  on  trie  part  of  our  Government,  were  making  the 
most  unwarrantable  aggressions  on  the  commerce  of  this 
country.  I  found  many  so  exasperated  as  to  be  ready  to  go 
directly  into  a  war  with  France;  and  it  appeared  to  me,  that 
nothing  but  the  dread  of  a  contrary  opinion  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  prevented,  at  that  time,  the  awful  plunge. 
I  had  been  accustomed  to  consider  war  the  greatest  national 
evil;  I  have  seen  the  dreadful  sufferings  and  calamities  attend 
ant  on  one  war;  I  very  well  knew,  although  that  war  was  a 
war  of  necessity,  and  had  for  its  object,  on  our  part,  our  very 
existence  as  a  nation,  as  well  as  the  saving  of  the  lives  and 
properties  of  those  who  had  taken  an  active  part  in  it,  that 
many  were  tired  out  with  its  troubles  and  perplexities  to  that 
degree,  that  nothing  but  the  seeming  interposition  of  a  kind 
Providence  could  have  brought  it  to  a  favorable  issue  on  our 
part.  I  could  see  no  other  object,  or  pretence  of  object,  in 
the  war  we  were  invited  into,  than  merely  the  defence  of  our 
commerce  on  the  ocean.  This  I  considered  as  impossible  to 
be  done  to  the  full  satisfaction  of  the  merchants,  even  at  the 
expense  of  the  whole  landed  property  of  the  country.  Of  con 
quest,  reparation,  or  profitable  captures,  there  could  be  no 
hope  on  our  part.  Submission  to  terms  which  had  deprived 
the  shipping  of  America  of  the  carrying  trade  of  France,  had 
been  adopted,  and  many  other  sacrifices  had  been  made,  rather 
than  involve  this  country  in  a  war  with  England.  My  desire 
for  peace  at  that  time,  made  me  to  acquiesce  in  those  measures ; 


332  MATTHEW   LYON 

and  I  could  devise  no  way  to  avoid  a  war,  but  by  a  sacrifice 
of  the  future  profits  of  that  commerce  which  had  become  ex 
posed  to  depredations.  About  one-half  of  the  members  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  appeared  to  be  of  that  opinion. 
We  were  sensible  of  the  injury  individuals  must  suffer  by 
such  a  line  of  conduct,  and  were  willing  to  have  made  them 
some  reparation.  With  this  disposition  we  adjourned  in  July, 
1797,  with  more  hopes  of  a  speedy  conclusion  of  the  war  in 
Europe,  than  from  the  proposed  negotiation.  Although  many 
changes  had  taken  place  in  Europe,  during  the  recess  of  Con 
gress,  yet  the  hoped  for  conclusion  of  their  wars  had  not  ar 
rived,  and  the  first  despatches  from  our  envoys  informed  us 
of  new  regulations  of  the  French  Government,  which  would 
be  further  injurious  to  our  commerce,  as  well  as  of  their  cold 
reception,  long  delay  and  dull  prospects.  These  things  af 
fected  the  resentment  of  those  who  had  determined,  if  possible, 
to  keep  our  country  out  of  the  war  as  much,  perhaps,  as  of 
those  who  gave  vent  to  their  rage  by  exclamations  for  war; 
yet  we  could  see  no  possible  advantage  to  accrue  to  this 
country  by  a  war  with  a  nation  near  4,000  miles  from  us.  We 
felt  strong  in  ourselves,  and  unconquerable  in  our  internal 
situation;  but  external  and  offensive  war,  we  could  not  con 
sider  to  be  the  occupation,  the  business,  or  the  interest  of 
Americans,  who  have  neither  men  nor  money  to  spare,  nor  a 
taste  for  conquest.  We  could  not  be  willing  to  see  our  coun 
try  embark  in  an  endless  and  useless  contest  concerning  a 
commerce  in  which  but  a  small  part  of  the  community  were 
interested.  We  could  not  but  be  sensible  that  the  cost  of  the 
war  must  fall  on  the  landed  interest,  without  the  most  distant 
prospect  of  retribution.  We  foresaw  that  many  millions 
would  be  sunk. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  333 

"  Neighbor. — Have  not  the  French  given  sufficient  provo 
cation  to  this  country,  to  justify  us  in  going  to  war  with  them? 

"  Lyon. — According  to  notions  that  have  been  entertained 
in  Europe,  among  nations  who  have  been  in  habits  of  war, 
who  make  a  trade  of  it,  who  live  so  thick  that  they  are  quar 
reling,  as  it  were,  for  a  spot  of  ground  to  stand  upon,  and  per 
petually  conquering  and  plundering  one  another,  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  the  French  have  given  us  tenfold  provocation 
for  a  declaration  of  war  against  them;  but  a  country  situated 
like  this,  secured  as  it  were  from  them  by  an  immense  ocean, 
with  a  country  in  our  possession  craving  a  population  of  at 
least  twenty  or  thirty  fold,  should  never  think  of  war  as  a 
trade,  nor  wage  it  with  any  nation,  farther  than  in  case  of  an 
invasion  of  their  territory,  to  rise  in  mass,  and  drive  out  the 
invaders,  returning  to  their  farms  and  their  homes  immediately. 

"  Neighbor. — You  seem  not  to  regard  the  commerce  of  this 
country;  don't  you  know  that  the  agricultural  interest  of  this 
country  cannot  flourish  without  commerce? 

"  Lyon. — I  regard  the  commerce  of  the  country  so  much, 
that  I  wish  for  markets  for  all  its  spare  produce,  and  I  am 
willing  it  should  be  so  managed,  that  Americans  should  be 
our  carriers,  if  they  choose;  but  I  am  not  so  attached  to  that 
commerce  which,  as  it  were,  forces  upon  this  country  unneces- 
saries,  upon  credit,  and  creates  thousands  of  law  suits  and 
bankruptcies,  as  to  consent  to  involve  my  country  in  an  ever 
lasting  war,  for  the  mere  name  of  defending  it  without  tlie 
power.  I  had  much  rather  leave  the  carriage  of  the  produce 
of  this  country  to  foreigners;  had  that  been  the  case,  instead 
of  our  arming,  and  the  Europeans  known  it  some  months  ago, 
produce  of  this  country  would  have  borne  a  much  better  price. 


334  MATTHEW   LYON 

It  is  but  very  little  interesting  to  the  back  country  people 
whether  our  produce  is  carried  away  by  Americans  or  by 
foreigners.  We  have  room  and  employ  for  all  our  people, 
if  not  one  of  them  go  to  sea.  The  merchants,  after  they  have 
got  their  will  with  respect  to  a  naval  armament,  and  a  law  to 
cut  off  the  intercourse  with  France  and  its  colonies;  and  after 
our  coast  is  clear  of  the  privateers  that  infest  it,  are  afraid  to 
send  out  their  vessels;  and  after  all  our  marine  has  cost,  and 
they  have  taken  one  small  privateer  schooner,  produce  has 
fallen  at  least  one-third  since  the  last  winter.  Another  con 
sideration  with  regard  to  foreign  commerce,  you  must  know, 
neighbor,  is,  that  the  people  who  make  their  own  necessaries 
in  back  countries  are  not  interested  in  it  equally  with  those  on 
and  about  the  seashore  and  navigable  rivers,  were  we  able  to 
defend  it.  Every  one  who  is  not  in  favor  of  this  mad  war, 
is  branded  with  the  epithet  of  Opposers  of  Government,  Disor- 
ganizers,  Jacobins,  &c.  I  do  not  understand  what  people  can 
mean  by  opposition  to  Government,  applied  to  the  Represen 
tatives  of  the  people,  in  that  capacity.  We  have  been  accus 
tomed  to  suppose  that  Representatives  are  sent  to  vote  and 
support  by  their  arguments  their  own  opinions,  and  that  of 
their  constituents,  and  to  act  for  the  interest  of  their  country. 
It  is  quite  a  new  kind  of  jargon  to  call  a  Representative  of  the 
people  an  Opposer  of  the  Government,  because  he  does  not, 
as  a  Legislator,  advocate  and  acquiesce  in  every  proposition 
that  comes  from  the  Executive.  I  have  no  particular  interest 
of  my  own,  in  crossing  the  views  of  the  Executive.  When  a 
proposition  comes  from  that  quarter,,  which  I  think,  if  gained, 
will  be  injurious  to  my  constituents  and  the  Constitution,  I 
am  bound  by  oath,  as  well  as  by  every  consideration  of  duty, 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  335 

to  oppose  it;  if  out-voted  it  is  my  duty  to  acquiesce;  I  do  so; 
but  measures  which  I  opposed  from  duty,  as  injurious  and 
ruinous  to  the  liberty  and  interest  of  this  country,  in  Congress, 
you  cannot  expect  me  to  advocate  at  home.  You  never  heard 
of  my  giving  opposition  to  Government,  by  being  concerned  in 
a  mob,  or  by  encouraging  any  kind  of  riot  or  insurrection, 
except  what  comes  in  the  lying  Tory  papers  printed  in  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  where  they  know  nothing  of  my 
character. 

"  Neighbor. — I  have  known  you  thirty-four  years,  and  have 
never  heard  of  a  thing  of  the  kind,  unless  your  opposition  to 
the  unjust  claims  of  Britain  and  New  York,  were  to  be  called 
Opposition  to  the  Government.  Your  enemies  say,  you  have 
joined  the  interest  of  the  French,  and  wish  to  see  this  country 
subjugated  by  them.  What  have  you  to  say  to  that? 

"  Lyon. — Slander  of  this  kind,  is  authorized  by  the  party 
who  advocate  the  war,  from  highest  to  lowest.  The  name 
of  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  is 
sometimes  joined  in  the  same  line  of  an  abusive  British  tory 
newspaper  with  my  own,  both  called  traitors,  and  for  the  same 
reason,  our  opposition  to  the  war.  Mr.  Livingston,  of  New 
York,  Mr.  Nicholas,  of  Virginia,  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Giles, 
and  indeed  all  the  Republican  members  are  used  in  the  same 
manner,  and  are  noticed  in  those  vile  vehicles  of  slander  in 
proportion  to  their  efforts  to  save  their  country  from  ruin. 
The  country  printers  are  generally  in  a  strife  to  shew  their 
attachment  to  what  appears  to  be  the  ruling  party  in  the 
Government.  They  disseminate  this  kind  of  abuse  against 
the  Republicans,  in  order  to  please  the  officers  of  Govern 
ment  at  Philadelphia,  from  whom  they  expect  employment 


MATTHEW    LYON 

to  print  the  governmental  matters,  in  proportion  to  their  zeal 
in  their  cause.  The  country  printers  are  surrounded  by  law 
yers  and  idlers,  who  wish  to  fish  in  troubled  waters,  and  hope 
for  offices  by  means  of  wars  and  new  taxes.  You  cannot  but 
observe  the  old  tories  and  their  off-spring  have  universally 
joined  in  the  acclamation  for  war,  and  the  denunciation  of 
every  Republican.  This  accounts  for  the  abuse  you  see 
against  me  and  some  others,  in  a  certain  paper  printed  some 
where  between  a  thousand  and  fifteen  miles  from  this,  which 
is  conducted  by  a  person  of  that  class,  a  man  of  great  learn 
ing,  the  same  who  some  years  ago  took  refuge  in  this  State 
from  a  prosecution  for  forgery.  As  for  myself,  I  never  suf 
fered  my  wishes  for  the  welfare  of  any  other  nation  to  occupy 
my  mind  or  by  any  means  to  interfere  with  my  zeal  for  the 
service  of  this  country;  as  soon  as  I  saw  the  French  were 
robbing  our  merchants,  and  destroying  the  commerce  of  this 
country,  I  felt  all  that  sympathy  for  the  sufferers,  and  that  in 
dignation  towards  the  plunderers  that  any  honest  man  would 
do  on  seeing  a  strong  man  and  a  stranger,  abuse  a  weak  one, 
and  his  neighbor  and  friend.  This  aversion  toward  the  French 
has  increased,  as  the  French  depredations  and  abuses  of  this 
country  make  a  war  that  would  be  an  evil  to  them  only,  or 
a  means  to  prevent  their  further  depredations,  I  should  not 
have  hesitated  one  moment  in  giving  my  assent  to  it;  but  when 
I  could  see  but  little  injury  that  we  could  do  them,  and  the 
vast  calamity  it  would  cause  to  this  country,  I  could  not  concur 
in  any  measure  which  in  my  opinion  led  to  it." 

This  very  able  and  conservative  letter  was  to  have  been  con 
tinued  in  the  next  number  of  the  paper,  but  before  that  was 
issued  Colonel  Lyon  had  become  a  prisoner  of  State  in  Ver- 
gennes  jail. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  337 

No  sooner  had  the  "  Scourge  of  Aristocracy  "  made  its  ap 
pearance,  before  the  Black  Cockades  of  President  Adams  were 
in  motion  against  Colonel  Lyon.  There  was  nothing  action 
able  in  the  above  letter  to  his  constituents,  and  a  letter  written 
by  him  June  20,  1798,  and  mailed  at  Philadelphia  long  before 
the  enactment  of  the  sedition  law,  was  desperately  seized 
upon  as  affording  the  only  pretext  for  his  indictment.  There  is 
scarcely  a  doubt  that  tke  appearance  of  the  "  Scourge  of 
Aristocracy  "  was  one  of  the  impelling  causes  of  his  prosecu 
tion.  Word  reached  him  to  get  out  of  the  way  until  the  excite 
ment  might  blow  over,  but  he  refused,  and  stood  his  ground. 
.When  the  process  server  came,  he  expressed  his  readiness  to 
go  at  once,  and  promised  to  be  in  court  when  wanted.  So 
general  was  the  confidence  in  his  character  for  integrity  that 
the  marshal's  deputy  made  no  demur,  and  Colonel  Lyon  ap 
peared  in  court  on  the  following  Saturday  morning  to  plead  to 
the  indictment.  That  distinguished  law  writer,  Francis  Whar- 
ton,  in  his  "  State  Trials  of  the  United  States,"  says : 

"  It  was  in  the  recess  between  the  two  sessions  that  the  trial 
took  place.  It  was  undoubtedly  a  bold  step  on  the  part  of  the 
administration,  for  the  alleged  libels  were  written  before  the 
passage  of  the  law,  though  published  afterwards.  The  defend 
ant  was  an  active  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
where  the  vote  was  so  equally  balanced  as  to  make  his  with 
drawal  of  national  political  consequence;  and  he  was  then  a 
candidate  for  re-election.  A  conviction  under  these  circum 
stances  was  calculated  to  inflame  the  country;  nor  was  this 
feeling  allayed  by  the  publication  throughout  the  land  of  a 
letter  from  Lyon  himself  to  General  Mason,  then  a  Senator 
from  Virginia."* 

"  State  Trials  of  the  United  States,"  by  Francis  Wharton,  p.  339. 


MATTHEW    LYON 

He  was  convicted  and  imprisoned  with  every  appliance  of 
cruelty  and  despotism  at  the  command  of  the  administration 
brought  into  play  against  him.  A  wretched  turnkey,  instead 
of  taking  his  prisoner,  as  it  was  his  duty  to  do,  to  the  District 
jail,  carried  him  off  forty  miles  to  a  loathsome  pen  at  Ver- 
gennes,  where  his  victim  was  immured  among  the  vilest 
criminals.  For  a  time  this  miscreant  denied  Colonel  Lyon 
the  use  of  pen  and  ink.  But  the  indignation  excited  among  the 
people  compelled  Fitch  to  relax  that  much  of  his  cruelty,  and 
the  prisoner  was  again  permitted  under  harsh  restrictions  to 
communicate  with  one  or  two  of  his  friends.  Presently  Ver 
mont  was  in  a  blaze  of  anger.  The  Green  Mountain  Boys, 
whom  Lyon  had  led  in  many  a  hard  fought  battle  against 
Yorkers  in  the  Hampshire  Grants  era  over  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury  before,  were  up  in  arms.  The  surviving  Minute  Men  who 
had  scaled  the  hill  at  Ticonderoga  side  by  side  with  Matthew 
Lyon  under  the  lead  of  Ethan  Allen  in  the  first  offensive  fight 
of  the  Revolution,  were  now  ready  to  shoulder  their  rusty  flint 
locks  once  more.  The  adherents  of  Governor  Chittenden, 
veterans  who  had  marched  side  by  side  with  Lyon  when  he 
followed  Seth  Warner  into  Canada,  fought  under  Stark  at  Ben- 
nington,  and  carried  his  gun  among  the  victors  of  Saratoga, 
rallied  now  as  they  did  in  the  Revolution  to  the  side  of  their 
ancient  comrade  in  arms.  Here  was  one  of  the  last  survivors 
of  the  Old  Guard  who  had  come  with  the  Connecticut  pioneers 
out  of  the  hive  of  Litchfield  county,  nursing  mother  of  the 
mountain  republic,  with  Remember  Baker,  Thomas  Chitten 
den,  Ethan  and  Ira  Allen,  Seth  Warner  and  Jonathan  Fassett, 
to  found  Vermont  and  carry  her  through  the  great  wars  to 
peace  and  independence,  cast  now  into  a  felon's  cell,  because  he 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  339 

would  not  submit  to  tyranny,  nor  surrender  the  right  won  by 
precious  blood,  and  written  and  safeguarded  in  wax  and  parch 
ment  in  the  Constitution,  the  American  right  of  free  speech 
and  the  freedom  of  the  press. 

And  the  people  were  resolved  to  efface  the  blot  on  the  fair 
fame  of  Vermont,  tear  down  the  jail,  and  set  free  their  Repre 
sentative.  Nor  was  the  indignation  merely  local,  nor  confined 
to  the  State.  All  over  the  Union  Matthew  Lyon  was  regarded 
as  a  political  martyr,  and  as  in  England,  when  John  Hampden, 
for  asserting  the  rights  of  the  people,  was  cast  into  prison  by 
Charles  the  First,  so  now  in  the  United  States  the  persecution 
of  a  member  of  Congress  in  the  same  despotic  fashion  by  John 
Adams  for  asserting  similar  rights,  was  everywhere  regarded 
as  a  stab  to  liberty,  and  the  President,  like  the  King,  was  made 
to  pay  the  penalty  by  the  loss  of  his  great  office.  As  we  had 
no  Oliver  Cromwell,  the  headsman's  axe  was  mercifully  spared, 
and  the  likeness  in  that  respect,  to  the  honor  of  America,  re 
mained  imperfect. 

Matthew  Lyon's  letters  began  now  to  come  out  of  Ver- 
gennes  jail,  and  his  brave  spirit  was  unbroken,  his  cheerfulness 
and  admonitions  to  obey  all  laws,  even  bad  ones,  until  they 
should  be  repealed,  were  so  impressive,  and  the  vigor  of  his 
pen  was  such,  that  even  the  administration  became  alarmed, 
and  efforts  to  buy  him  off,  or  to  connive  at  his  escape,  in  order 
to  shake  his  hold  on  the  public,  were  resorted  to  by  leading 
Federalists.  "  He  held  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,"  says  the 
Vermont  antiquarian,  Rev.  Pliny  H.  White,  "  clear,  racy  and 
idiomatic.  If  occasion  required,  he  could  handle  the  weapons 
of  invective  almost  as  murderously  as  Junius.  His  letters  to 
John  Adams,  to  William  Duane,  and  to  Elias  Curtis,  are  worth 


34O  MATTHEW  LYON 

reading  by  all  who  wish  to  know  the  full  powers  of  the  English 
language.  His  addresses  to  his  constituents,  at  various  times, 
will  also  repay  perusal.  There  are  frequent  sentences  in  them 
which  have  the  terseness  and  pungency  of  epigrams.  He  was 
never  lavish  in  the  use  of  words,  but  gave  his  readers  an  idea 
in  every  sentence."0 

Like  Hampden  in  the  long  Parliament  when  he  prevented 
his  partisans,  as  Macaulay  relates,  from  sheathing  their  swords 
in  the  bowels  of  the  royalists,  so  too  did  Matthew  Lyon  pre 
vent  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  from  tearing  down  the  Ver- 
gennes  jail,  and  setting  him  free.  He  advanced  to  the  window 
of  his  cell  and  addressed  the  thousands  who  had  assembled  in 
the  words  of  wisdom  and  forbearance,  advised  obedience  to  all 
laws,  no  matter  whether  good  or  bad,  and  in  a  loud  voice, 
which  was  heard  by  every  one  present,  urged  them  to  correct 
abuses  at  the  polls,  and  not  to  add  to  them  by  lawless  violence. 

The  learned  law  writer,  Francis  Wharton,  in  his  "  State 
Trials,"  dwells  with  evident  admiration  upon  the  prisoner's  de 
meanor  at  this  trying  moment.  "  Lyon's  imprisonment,"  says 
he,  "  was  enforced  with  a  rigor  which  excited  the  great  mass  of 
his  constitutents  to  such  a  pitch  as  to  lead  to  a  popular  rising, 
the  avowed  object  of  which  was  to  tear  down  the  prison.  This, 
however,  he  succeeded  in  suppressing,  and  in  fact  his  whole 
demeanor  was  marked  with  great  prudence  and  tact.  His 
wife,  with  her  sisters,  the  daughters  of  Governor  Chittenden, 
having  one  day  visited  him,  the  usual  barrier  to  their  entrance 
was  removed,  and  she  was  permitted  to  enter  the  cell.  At 


° "  Life  and  Services  of  Matthew  Lyon,"  an  address  before  the 
Vermont  Historical  Society,  in  the  presence  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  Vermont,  by  Pliny  H.  White,  1858. 


THE   HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  34! 

this  moment  some  less  prudent  friend  intimated  that  now  was 
the  period  to  escape.  '  That  he  shall  not  do/  said  the  prisoner's 
wife,  '  if  I  stand  sentinel  myself/  The  spirit,  energy  and  de 
votion  shown  by  this  eminent  lady  during  her  husband's  im 
prisonment,  gave  fresh  vigor  to  his  supporters,  and  courage  to 
himself.  So  awkward  did  his  position  become  to  the  adminis 
tration,  that  the  Cabinet  panted  for  an  excuse  to  liberate  him. 
His  determination  to  give  up  nothing  on  the  one  hand,  coupled 
with  his  constant  and  watchful  exhortations  to  his  supporters 
to  yield  the  most  implicit  obedience  to  the  law,  made  the  dif 
ficulty  peculiarly  embarrassing.  .Had  he  apologized  on  the 
one  hand,  or  stormed  on  the  other;  had  he  either  petitioned  for 
a  pardon,  or  connived  at  a  rescue;  he  could  easily  have  been 
disposed  of.  But  neither  of  these  would  he  do.  An  attempt 
to  induce  him  to  take  the  former  step,  backed,  it  was  intimated, 
by  a  high  promise,  failed.  An  attempt  to  involve  him  in  the 
latter,  he  himself  frustrated."0 

Whatever  trepidation  and  desire  to  extricate  themselves 
from  a  bad  situation  the  cabinet,  dominated  by  Hamilton, 
may  have  experienced,  it  is  quite  certain  that  President  Adams 
never  relented,  and  felt  no  qualms  of  conscience  over  the  suffer 
ings  of  Matthew  Lyon.  When  a  petition  on  behalf  of  Colonel 
Lyon,  signed  by  several  thousand  Vermonters,  was  sent  to 
him,  he  sternly  asked  whether  the  prisoner  had  signed  it,  and 
learning  that  he  had  not,  he  treated  Mr.  Ogden,  chairman  of 
the  committee,  a  highly  esteemed  citizen  of  Vermont,  with 
great  rudeness  for  bringing  him  such  a  paper.  "  I  omitted  to 
mention,"  says  Jefferson  in  a  letter  to  Madison,  January  3,1799* 
*'  that  a  petition  has  been  presented  to  the  President,  signed  by 

o  "  Wharton's  State  Trials  of  the  United  States,"  p.  342. 


342  MATTHEW   LYON 

several  thousand  persons  in  Vermont,  praying  a  remitment  of 
Lyon's  fine.  He  asked  the  bearer  of  the  petition  if  Lyon  him 
self  had  petitioned,  and  being  answered  in  the  negative,  said, 
'  penitence  before  pardon/  "° 

One  of  the  first  letters  written  by  Colonel  Lyon,  after  the 
interdict  on  his  writing  anything  had  been  removed,  was  the 
celebrated  letter  to  General  Stevens  Thompson  Mason,  the 
distinguished  Senator  from  Virginia.  It  was  published  exten 
sively  by  the  Democratic  newspapers  throughout  the  Union, 
and  intensified  the  indignation  of  the  people  against  the  ad 
ministration.  It  became  a  powerful  weapon  in  the  hands  of 
the  friends  of  the  Republican  or  Democratic  candidates,  Jef 
ferson  and  Burr,  at  the  next  Presidential  election,  and  proved 
a  deadly  blight  to  the  prospects  of  the  Federalist  candidates, 
Adams  and  Pinckney.  The  following  is  the  letter: 

"  [To  General  Stevens  Thompson  Mason.] 

"  In  jail  at  Vergennes  (the  only 
city  in  Vermont,  it  contains 
about  sixty  houses  and  seventy 
families),  October  14,  1798. 

"  DEAR  GENERAL, 

"  I  take  the  liberty  to  trouble  you  with  the  recital  of  what 
has  happened  to  me  within  about  ten  days  pas*. 

"  On  Thursday,  the  5th  of  this  month,  I  was  informed  that 
a  grand  jury  had  been  collected  to  attend  the  federal  court 
at  Rutland,  about  fifteen  miles  from  my  place  of  residence; 
that  they  were  selected  from  the  towns  which  were  particu 
larly  distinguished  by  their  enmity  to  me;  that  the  jury  was 
"Jefferson's  Works."  IV.  262. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF.  CONGRESS  343 

composed  of  men  who  had  been  accustomed  to  speak  ill  of 
me;  that  they  had  received  a  charge  to  look  to  the  breaches  of 
the  sedition  law;  and  that  they  had  some  publications  of  mine 
under  consideration.  The  same  night  a  friend  called,  and 
assured  me  that  a  bill  was  found  against  me,  and  urged  me 
to  be  out  of  the  way  of  being  taken — he  declared  to  me,  that  it 
was  the  wish  of  many  of  my  friends.  He  informed  me  that 
the  petit  jury  were  taken  from  the  same  towns  where  the  grand 
jury  were;  and  that  from  every  examination  there  were  not  more 
than  two  out  of  the  fourteen  which  were  summoned,  who  had 
not  opposed  me  in  the  late  election.  He  mentioned  several 
zealous  partisans  for  Presidential  infallibility  among  them,  and 
one  who  had  been  lately  writing  the  most  virulent  things 
against  me,  in  his  own  name,  which  were  published  in  a  news 
paper.  My  answer  to  all  this  was,  it  could  not  be  honourable 
to  run  away — I  felt  conscious  that  I  had  done  no  wrong,  and 
my  enemies  should  never  have  it  to  say  that  I  ran  from  them. 
An  officer  of  the  court  had  been  in  my  neighborhood  the  same 
evening  to  summon  witnesses.  I  had  told  him,  if  the  court 
wanted  me,  he  need  bring  no  posse,  he  might  come  alone,  I 
would  go  with  him,  there  should  be  no  resistance.  Accord 
ingly  on  Friday  evening,  the  same  officer,  a  deputy  marshal, 
came  with  a  warrant  for  my  apprehension,  which  he  gave  me 
to  read,  and  accepted  of  my  word  and  honour  as  bail  to  meet 
him  at  Rutland  court-house  the  next  morning  about  nine 
o'clock.  I  was  there  accordingly;  and  soon  after  the  court  was 
opened  I  was  called  to  the  bat  to  hear  the  indictment  read.  It 
consisted  of  three  counts;  the  first  for  having  maliciously,  &c., 
with  intent,  &c.,  written,  at  Philadelphia,  a  letter  dated  the 
2Oth  of  June,  and  published  the  same  at  Windsor,  in  the  news- 


344  MATTHEW   LYON 

paper  called  the  Vermont  Journal,  containing  the  words  follow 
ing: 

"  'As  to  the  Executive,  when  I  shall  see  the  efforts  of  that 
power  bent  on  the  promotion  of  the  comfort,  the  happiness, 
and  accommodation  of  the  people,  that  Executive  shall  have 
my  zealous  and  uniform  support;  but  whenever  I  shall,  on  the 
part  of  the  Executive,  see  every  consideration  of  the  public 
welfare  swallowed  up  in  a  continual  grasp  for  power,  in  an 
unbounded  thirst  for  ridiculous  pomp,  foolish  adulation,  and 
selfish  avarice;  when  I  shall  behold  men  of  real  merit  daily 
turned  out  of  office,  for  no  other  cause  but  independency  of 
sentiment;  when  I  shall  see  men  of  firmness,  merit,  years,  abili 
ties,  and  experience,  discarded  in  their  applications  for  office, 
for  fear  they  possess  that  independence,  and  men  of  meanness 
preferred  for  the  ease  with  which  they  take  up  and  advocate 
opinions,  the  consequence  of  which  they  know  but  little  of — 
when  I  shall  see  the  sacred  name  of  religion  employed  as  a 
state  engine  to  make  mankind  hate  and  persecute  one  another, 
I  shall  not  be  their  humble  advocate/ 

"  The  second  count  consisted  of  having  maliciously,  &c., 
and  with  intent,  &c.,  published  a  letter,  said  to  be  a  letter  from 
a  diplomatic  character  in  France,  containing  two  paragraphs, 
in  the  words  following: 

" '  The  misunderstanding  between  the  .two  governments 
(France  and  the  United  States)  has  become  extremely  alarm 
ing;  confidence  is  completely  destroyed,  mistrusts,  jealousy, 
and  a  disposition  to  a  wrong  attribution  of  motives,  are  so 
apparent,  as  to  require  the  utmost  caution  in  every  word  and 
action  that  are  to  come  from  your  Executive.  I  mean,  if  your 
object  is  to  avoid  hostilities.  Had  this  truth  been  understood 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  345 

with  you  before  the  recall  of  Monroe,  before  the  coming  and 
second  coming  of  Pinckney;  had  it  guided  the  pens  that  wrote 
the  bullying  speech  of  your  President,  and  stupid  answer  of 
your  Senate,  at  the  opening  of  Congress  in  November  last, 
I  should  have  probably  had  no  occasion  to  address  you  this 
letter. 

"  '  But  when  we  found  him  borrowing  the  language  of  Ed 
mund  Burke,  and  telling  the  world  that  although  he  should 
succeed  in  treating  with  the  French,  there  was  no  dependence 
to  be  placed  on  any  of  their  engagements,  that  their  religion 
and  morality  were  at  an  end,  that  they  would  turn  pirates  and 
plunderers,  and  it  would  be  necessary  to  be  perpetually  armed 
against  them,  though  you  were  at  peace;  we  wondered  that 
the  answer  of  both  Houses  had  not  been  an  order  to  send 
him  to  a  mad  house.  Instead  of  this  the  Senate  have  echoed 
the  speech  with  more  servility  than  ever  George  III  experi 
enced  from  either  House  of  Parliament.' 

"  The  third  count  was  for  aiding  and  abetting,  &c.  in  pub 
lishing  the  same.  I  was  called  upon  to  know  if  I  was  ready 
to  plead  to  the  indictment.  I  answered,  that  I  was  always 
ready  to  say  I  was  not  guilty  of  the  charges  in  the  indictment, 
but  that  I  was  not  provided  with  counsel,  there  being  no  person 
at  Rutland  I  was  willing  to  trust  with  my  cause;  I  had  sent  to 
Bennington  for  two  gentlemen  on  whom  I  could  rely,  Messrs. 
Fay  and  Robinson,  who  would  be  here  by  Monday.  It  was 
then  signified  to  me,  that  I  might  have  the  trial  postponed 
until  the  session  of  the  court  in  May  next.  This  I  could  not 
wish  for,  as  that  session  was  to  be  at  Windsor,  over  the  moun 
tain,,  where  they  were  sure  of  having  a  unanimous  jury,  such 
as  they  wanted. 


346  MATTHEW   LYON 

"  In  the  fourteen  jurymen  before  me  I  thought  I  saw  one 
or  two  persons  who  knew  me,  and  would  never  consent  to  say 
that  I  was  guilty  of  an  intention  of  stirring  up  sedition;  I  was 
unwilling  to  remain  under  a  censure  of  the  kind;  for  these 
reasons  I  chose  to  come  to  trial;  I  accordingly  gave  bonds 
for  my  appearance  the  next  Monday.  Saturday  and  Sunday 
were  violent  stormy  days,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  court  on 
Monday  I  had  heard  nothing  of  my  counsel,  nor  my  mes 
senger;  I  so  informed  the  court,  and  told  them  I  thought  we 
should  hear  from  them  in  an  hour,  for  which  time  the  court 
adjourned.  Within  that  time  my  messenger  returned,  with 
news  that  Mr.  Fay's  wife  was  very  sick,  and  Mr.  Robinson, 
who  is  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  was  preparing  to  attend, 
and  could  not  be  at  Rutland  so  soon  as  that  time.  Mr.  Smith, 
who  is  our  Chief  Justice,  was  present,  although  he  and  I  had 
been  formerly  competitors  for  the  representation  of  this  dis 
trict  in  Congress;  he  is  a  republican,  and  many  of  my  friends 
are  now  his  friends;  they  applied  to  him  to  assist  me,  and  I 
understood  he  had  consented.  Thus  circumstanced,  I  pro 
ceeded  to  trial.  So  ignorant  was  I  of. law  proceedings,  that 
I  expected  to  object  off  the  inveterate  part  of  the  jury,  with 
out  giving  particular  reasons,  or  supporting  them  by  evidence ; 
I  was,  therefore,  unprepared.  The  Attorney  for  the  United 
States  was  called  on  to  say  if  he  had  any  objections  to  the 
jury.  He  said  he  had  to  a  Mr.  Board;  he  believed  he  had  given 
an  opinion  in  the  cause;  to  prove  which,  he  called  upon  a 
deputy  sheriff,  who  swore  he  had  some  conversation  on  the 
Saturday  before  with  Mr.  Board,  in  which  he  understood  Mr. 
Board  to  speak  as  if  he  thought  that  Mr.  Lyon  would  not 
be  condemned,  or  some  such  thing;  Judge  Paterson  inquired 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  347 

if  there  was  not  enough  for  the  panel  without  him,  Mr.  Board. 
He  was  answered,  there  were  thirteen  more.  Mr.  Board  was 
ordered  off.  Thus  was  the  only  man  sworn  away  that  knew 
me  enough  to  judge  of  my  intentions.  No  one  doubts  that 
the  deputy  sheriff  began  a  discourse  with  Mr.  Board  on  pur 
pose  to  have  something  to  swear.  Mr.  Board  said,  he  ex 
pected  that  was  the  case  when  he  came  to  him,  and  he  care 
fully  avoided  conversing  with  him.  I  objected  to  two  of  the 
jury  on  account  of  their  violent  opposition  to  me;  and  although 
unprepared  with  regard  to  truth,  I  called  on  some  persons 
present  to  see  if  they  could  recollect  any  virulence  made  use 
of  by  those  two;  and  I  sent  for  the  newspaper  to  prove  the 
abuse  of  the  one  who  had  published ;  the  Judge  observed,  that 
a  difference  in  political  opinion  could  be  reason  against  a  jury 
man,  and  as  there  were  twelve  beside,  he  ordered  the  person 
who  had  been  libelling  me,  off.  Here  I  pleaded  to  the  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  court,  on  account  of  the  unconstituionality  of  the 
law.  My  plea  was  overruled,  but  I  was  told  I  might  make 
use  of  the  arguments  in  any  other  stage  of  the  trial. 

"  The  attorney,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  on  the  first 
count,  produced  my  original  letter,  on  which  was  the  Phila 
delphia  postmark,  July  7.  He  attempted  to  bring  some  evi 
dence  to  show  that  the  letter  did  not  arrive  at  Windsor  until 
after  the  I4th  of  July;  the  printer's  boy  thought  it  did  not 
arrive  until  the  2oth,  and  Mr.  Buck  saw  the  setting  from  it 
about  the  23rd,  or  later;  I  acknowledged  the  letter.  As  to  the 
second  count  several  evidences  were  brought  to  swear  they 
heard  me  read  the  letter,  said  to  be  the  Letter  from  a  diplomatic 
character  in  France,  from  a  manuscript  copy,  supposed  to  be 
in  my  own  handwriting;  they  were  inquired  of  whether  the 


MATTHEW   LYON 

reading  of  the  letter  caused  any  tumult.  One  of  the  evidences, 
a  young  lawyer,  and  another  person  an  associate  of  his,  said 
that  they  thought  it  did  at  Middletown.  One  of  them  said 
he  heard  a  person  say,  there  must  be  a  revolution,  and  they 
both  agreed  that  there  was  a  noise — and  some  tumult  after  the 
reading  of  that  letter  and  some  other  papers.  On  my. inquir 
ing  of  them  the  cause  of  the  tumult,  and  their  opinion,  if  there 
would  have  been  any  tumult  there,  if  they  had  not  followed  me 
on  purpose  to  make  a  disturbance?  they  acknowledged,  they 
thought  if  they  had  not  been  there,  there  would  have  been  no 
disturbance;  and  they  also  agreed,  that  the  tumult  was  caused 
by  the  other  people's  disliking  their  being  there,  and  their  con 
duct  then;  they  agreed  also  that  I  refused  to  give  an  opinion 
upon  the  letter. 

"In  proof  of  the  third  count,  the  Attorney  produced  evi 
dence  to  show  that  the  printed  pamphlet,  entitled  a  Copy  of 
a  letter  from  a  Diplomatic  character  in  France,  was  taken 
from  a  manuscript  in  my  hand,  and  the  printer  said  he  received 
the  copy  from  my  wife.  The  evidence  all  agreed  that  I  had 
ever  been  opposed  to  the  printing  of  the  letter,  and  gave  for 
reason,  that  I  had  promised  the  gentleman  to  whom  the  origi 
nal  had  been  written,  that  I  would  not  suffer  it  to  be  printed. 

The  young  lawyer  said  that  I  told  him,  there  were  not  above 
one  or  two  passages  in  the  letter  which  could  be  called  sedi 
tious. 

"  The  attorney  proceeded  to  sum  up  the  evidence,  and  dwelt 
on  everything  which  he  thought  proper  to  point  out  the  ap 
pearance  of  evil  intentions.  As  soon  as  he  had  seated  him 
self,  or  before  Judge  Paterson  rose  and  was  proceeding  to 
give  his  charge  to  the  jury,  I  interrupted  him  with  an  inquiry 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  349 

into  the  cause  why  I  should  not  be  heard;  he  politely  sat  down 
and  directed  me  to  proceed.  My  defence  consisted  of  an  ap 
peal  to  the  jury,  on  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  law,  the  inno 
cence  of  the  passage  in  my  letter,  and  the  innocence  of  the 
manner  in  which  I  read  the  letter.  It  was  said  I  spoke  two 
hours  and  upwards.  Mr.  Smith  declined  speaking,  as  he  was 
unprepared.  The  attorney  replied  as  decently  as  any  man  of 
his  profession  and  principles  would.  The  charge  from  the 
judge  was  studiedly  and  pointedly  severe.  After  telling  the 
jury,  if  they  leaned  any  way,  it  ought  to  be  in  favour  of  the 
defendant,  he  proceeded  to  dwell  on  the  intention  and  wicked 
ness  of  it,  in  the  most  elaborate  manner;  he  descended  to  in 
sinuate  that  the  Barlow  letter,  as  it  was  called,  was  a  forgery; 
he  said,  let  men  of  letters  read  that  letter  and  compare  it  with 
Barlow's  writings,  and  they  would  pronounce  it  none  of  his. 
He  told  the  jury  that  my  defence  was  merely  an  appeal  to  their 
feelings,  calculated  to  excite  their  pity;  but  mercy,  he  said,  did 
not  belong  to  them,  that  was  lodged  in  another  place;  they 
were  to  follow  the  law,  which  he  explained  in  his  own  way, 
and  supported  the  constitutionality  of  it.  The  jury  retired 
about  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  in  about  an  hour  they 
returned  with  a  verdict,  Guilty!  The  Judge  observed  to  me, 
that  I  had  then  an  opportunity  to  show  cause  why  judgment 
should  not  be  pronounced  against  me,  and  to  show  what  was 
my  ability  or  inability  to  pay  a  fine,  as  a  man  of  large  prop 
erty,  in  such  a  case,  ought  to  be  obliged  to  pay  a  greater 
fine  than  one  of  smaller  property.  I  replied,  I  did  not  ex 
pect  anything  that  I  should  say  would  have  any  influence  on 
the  court,  in  the  present  stage  of  the  business.  The  judge  said 
I  might  think  of  it  until  morning,  and  the  court  adjourned 


35O  MATTHEW  LYON 

until  nine  o'clock  next  morning;  I  then  attended,  and  after 
being  called  upon,  I  observed  to  the  court  in  reply  to  what 
had  been  said  to  me  upon  the  score  of  property,  that  a  few 
days  ago  I  owned  a  property,  which  I  estimated,  some  years 
since,  at  twenty  thousand  dollars;  in  the  present  state  of  the 
affairs  of  our  country,  I  did  not  expect  it  would  fetch  half 
that  sum.  I  had  lately  made  over  all  the  productive  part  of 
it,  to  secure  some  persons  who  were  bound  to  me  for  debts, 
to  the  amount  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  hundred  dollars;  there 
still  remained  enough  to  be  worth  much  more  than  the  court 
-were  empowered  to  fix  the  fine  at;  but  in  the  present  scarcity 
of  cash,  and  the  prospect  of  lands  soon  to  be  sold  very  cheap, 
I  did  not  know  that  I  could  possibly  raise  two  hundred  dollars 
in  cash  upon  it. 

"  The  judge,  after  an  exordium  on  the  nature  of  the  offence, 
the  malignity  of  it  in  me,  particularly  being  a  member  of 
Congress,  and  the  lenity  of  the  Sedition  Bill,  which  did  not 
allow  the  judges  to  carry  the  punishment  so  far  as  common 
law  did,  pronounced  sentence  that  I  be  imprisoned  four  calen 
dar  months.,  pay  a  fine  of  one  thousand  dollars,  and  stand  com 
mitted  until  the  judgment  should  be  complied  with.  This 
sentence  was  unexpected  to  all  my  friends  as  well  as  myself; 
no  one  expected  imprisonment. 

"  The  marshal  is  a  man  who  acted  as  clerk  to  some  persons 
whom  I  had  occasion  to  transact  some  business  with  about  a 
dozen  years  since,  when  he  first  came  into  this  country,  in 
which  he  behaved  so  that  I  have  ever  since  most  heartily 
despised  him ;  this  he  has  no  doubt  seen  and  felt.  The  moment 
sentence  was  pronounced,  he  called  me  to  him  and  ordered 
me  to  sit  down  on  a  certain  seat  in  the  court  house;  he  called 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  351 

two  persons  to  give  me  in  charge  to,  one  of  them  the  person 
who  followed  me  to  Middletown  to  insult  me,  and  was  on 
the  trial  improved  as  an  evidence.  I  asked  if  they  would  go  with 
me  to  my  lodgings  a  few  minutes,  so  that  I  might  take  care 
of  my  papers?  I  was  answered  in  a  surly  manner,  No;  and 
commanded  to  sit  down.  I  stood  up.  After  the  court  ad 
journed,  I  inquired  what  was  to  be  done  with  me  until  my 
commitment.  I  expected  I  should  be  confined  in  the  prison 
in  Rutland,  the  county  where  I  lived;  I  was  told  that  the 
marshal  was  authorized  to  imprison  me  in  what  jail  in  the 
State  he  pleased,  and  that  I  must  go  to  Vergennes,  about  forty- 
four  miles  north  of  Rutland,  and  about  the  same  distance  from 
my  seat  at  Fair  Haven.  I  inquired  what  were  the  accommoda 
tions  there?  and  was  answered  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  the 
marshal  himself,  that  they  were  very  good.  I  told  the  marshal, 
since  it  had  become  my  duty  to  go  there,  he  needed  no  assis 
tance,  I  would  go  with  him.  He  said  he  would  not  trust  to 
that,  and  prepared  two  troopers,  with  their  pistols  to  guard 
me.  He  ordered  me  to  ride  just  before  them;  in  this  manner 
'I  left  Rutland.  After  riding  a  few  miles  he  overtook  us  and 
rode  by  us;  he  rode  pretty  fast  and  whispered  to  one  of  the 
young  men;  I  learned  his  intention  was,  to  get  to  Middlebury, 
the  shire  town  of  Addison  county,  in  order  to  throw  me  into 
a  dirty  dungeon-like  room  for  that  night.  I  did  not  mend  my 
pace;  he  came  back  and  scolded;  insulted  and  threatened;  he 
repeated  it.  His  friends,  I  was  told,  expostulated  with  him, 
and  the  humane  young  men,  who  were  employed  as  guards, 
told  him  they  would  rather  watch  me  all  night  than  that  I 
should  be  thrown  into  the  jail ;  we  lived  at  a  tavern  about  four 
miles  short  of  Middlebury  jail;  the  young  men  watched:  the 


352  MATTHEW    LYON 

next  day  we  arrived  at  this  place ;  there  are  two  roads  to  come 
into  it,  one  comes  up  straight  to  the  jail-house,  by  but  two 
or  three  houses;  the  other  is  circuitous,  taking  almost  the 
whole  length  of  the  little  city  in  its  course.  I  was  foremost 
and  inclined  to  take  the  nearest  road,  but  the  gentleman,  by. 
that  route,  would  lose  a  share  of  his  triumph;  he  ordered  us 
in  a  peremptory  tone  into  the  circuitous  road  through  the  city. 
On  the  way  from  Rutland,  he  undertook  to  direct  me,  and 
stop  me  as  to  speaking,  and  told  me  I  should  not  have  the 
use  of  pen,  ink  and  paper.  On  Wednesday  evening  last  I  was 
locked  up  in  this  room,  where  I  now  am ;  it  is  about  sixteen 
feet  long  by  twelve  wide,  with  a  necessary  in  one  corner,  which 
affords  a  stench  about  equal  to  the  Philadelphia  docks  in  the 
month  of  August.  This  cell  is  the  common  receptacle  for 
horse-thieves,  money-makers,  runaway-negroes,  or  any  kind 
of  felons.  There  is  a  half-moon  hole  through  the  door,  suffi 
cient  to  receive  a  plate  through,  and  for  my  friends  to  look 
through  and  speak  to  me.  There  is  a  window  place  on  the 
opposite  side,  about  twenty  inches  by  sixteen,  crossed  by  nine 
square  iron  bars;  all  the  light  I  have  is  through  this  aperture; 
no  fire-place  in  the  cell,  nor  is  there  anything  but  the  iron 
bars  to  keep  the  cold  out;  consequently  I  have  to  walk  smartly 
with  my  great  coat  on,  to  keep  comfortably  warm  some  morn 
ings. 

"  On  Thursday  morning  last,  I  asked  a  friend  for  his  pen 
and  ink,  in  presence  of  the  jailer.  It  was  offered  me;  but  the 
jailer  said,  it  was  against  his  orders,  I  must  not  have  it.  The 
marshal  paid  me  a  visit  on  Thursday  evening,  he  examined  the 
cell,  looked  on  my  little  table  to  see  what  was  there :  but  found 
nothing  but  Volney's  Ruins,  the  late  laws,  some  of  the  Presi- 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  353 

dent's  messages,  and  a  list  of  the  petit  jury.  I  inquired  of  him 
before,  or  then,  what  situation  I  was  to  consider  myself  in  with 
regard  to  the  use  of  pen  and  ink?  His  answer  was,  I  might 
use  them;  but  he  must  see  everything  I  sent  out  of  the  jail, 
if  I  concluded  otherwise,  (looking  at  a  chain  that  lay  on  the 
floor,)  he  said  he  would  put  me  in  a  situation  in  which  I  could 
not  write.  I  asked  him  what  he  meant  by  that?  He  told  me  I 
was  at  his  disposal,  and  if  I  did  not  behave  like  a  prisoner,  he 
would  send  me  to  Woodstock  jail.  I  told  him  there  would 
be  one  advantage  in  that,  he  would  not  be  there  always,  and 
I  should  get  rid  of  the  sight  of  him.  On  Friday,  for  the  first 
time,  two  brothers-in-law  were  admitted  to  come  in  to  see  me. 
Some  of  my  friends  expostulated  with  the  marshal  on  the  sub 
ject  of  denying  me  pen  and  ink;  and  in  the  evening  I  observed 
a  man  hammering  on  the  prison  door.  You  seem  much  con 
cerned  about  that  door  (said  I) ;  there  has  scarce  been  an  hour 
since  I  came  here,  but  there  has  been  some  person  hammering 
at  the  door,  or  putting  on  new  bolts  or  bars.  It  is  all  useless, 
said  I;  if  I  wished  to  come  out,  they  could  not  hold  me;  and 
as  I  do  not,  if  my  limits  were  marked  by  a  single  thread,  I 
would  not  overstep  it.  He  replied,  he  was  only  nailing  up  an 
advertisement.  Next  morning,  when  the  house  was  very  still, 
I  heard  some  person  step  up  and  read  the  advertisement  on 
the  door;  it  contained  a  preamble  concerning  my  having  com 
plained  that  I  was  debarred  the  use  of  pen  and  ink  and  paper, 
and  a  declaration  that  I  had  leave  to  furnish  myself  with  those 
things,  and  use-  them  as  I  thought  proper,  signed  by  the 
marshal.  As  soon  as  I  could  get  my  eye  on  a  person  that 
would  go  and  fetch  General  Clark,  my  friend  and  brother-in- 
law,  who  is  a  member  of  the  legislature  now  sitting  here,  I  sent 


354  MATTHEW   LYON 

one.  He  came.  I  desired  him  to  read  the  advertisement,  and 
tell  me  what  I  should  do  concerning  Fitch,  the  marshal.  He 
said  he  would  go  and  see  Fitch,  and  see  how  he  explained  the 
business;  he  went  to  Fitch's  house,  but  could  not  find  him; 
some  other  business  occupied  him  the  rest  of  the  day.  T  next 
morning  sent  for  a  number  of  friends,  who  got  admittance, 
and  after  some  conversation  on  the  subject  before  the  jailer, 
and  getting  his  explanation  of  the  advertisement,  that  he  con 
sidered  me  now  allowed  to  write,  without  submitting  my  pro 
ductions  to  the  marshal,  I  was  solemnly  invested  with  pen  and 
ink.  The  first  use  I  have  made  of  it,  after  a  line  to  my  wife, 
is  to  write  you  this  long,  prolix  account  of  the  fruits  of  this 
beloved  Sedition  bill.  You  may  remember  that  I  told  you, 
when  it  was  passing,  that  it  was  doubtless  intended  for  the 
members  of  Congress,  and  very  likely  would  be  brought  to 
bear  on  me  the  very  first;  so  it  has  happened,  and  perhaps  I, 
who  have  been  a  football  for  dame  fortune  all  my  life,  am 
best  able  to  bear  it.  I  have  long  disobeyed  your  injunction 
to  write  to  you,  waiting  to  be  able  -to  give  you  an  account  of 
the  elections. 

"  The  noise  that  has  been  made  about  the  public  and  private 
negotiations  of  our  envoys  at  Paris,  has  answered  the  pur 
poses  of  the  aristocrats  completely,  (on  the  other  side  of  the 
mountain,  I  mean,  Morris's  district,)  to  exasperate  the  unthink 
ing  people  against  every  republican.  Governor  Robinson  had 
more  than  half  of  the  votes  on  this  side  of  the  mountain;  but 
Tichenor  has  got  a  great  majority;  in  the  whole  he  had  6,211; 
Robinson,  2,805,  beside,  I  am  told,  there  were  about  five 
hundred  for  him,  which  were  lost  by  inaccurate  returns;  there 
were  also  332  scattering  votes. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS 


355 


"  MONDAY,  October  15. 

"  I  have  just  learned  that  Morris  is  re-elected,  and  I  have 
received  the  list  of  the  votes  for  Representatives  to  Congress 
in  this  district;  they  stand  for  your  friend, 


"  Lyon 
"  Williams, 
"  Chipman, 

"  Spencer, 

"  Israel  Smith, 


3482. 
1,554, 


285, 

274, 

30 


6,995 
3,482 


an  aristocratic  candidate. 

an  aristocratic  candidate,  brother  to 
your  little  horse-nail  maker. 

and  several  other  aristocrats. 

and  several  other  republicans. 

given  in  for  Governor,  and  the  Rep 
resentatives  of  the  several  towns  in 
Assembly,  by  one  accident  or  an 
other,  put  into  the  box  for  Repre 
sentatives  to  Congress. 


"  I  remain,  with  unabated  affection, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  M.  LYON." 

For  many  years  the  official  record  of  the  case  of  Matthew 
Lyon  was  suppressed,  and  not  even  the  victim  himself  could 
procure  a  copy  of  it.  Mr.  Wharton  sought  for  it  diligently, 
but  in  vain,  when  writing  his  elaborate  work,  "  The  State  Trials 
of  the  United  States."  The  Adams  party  was  ashamed  of  it, 
and  tried  to  bury  it  from  view.  "  The  materials  of  this  case," 
says  Mr.  Wharton,  "  which  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  I  have 
collected,  are  drawn  chiefly  from  the  New  York  '  Spectator ' 


35^  MATTHEW   LYON 

of  October  24,  1798,  a  paper  then  said  to  be  under  Mr.  Hamil 
ton's  control,  and  of  course  decidely  Federal,  and  from  the 
'Aurora'  of  November  15,  1798,  whose  politics  were  equally 
decided  the  other  way.  I  have  made  very  general  inquiries 
for  fuller  details,  but  the  Vergennes  paper  of  that  day  goes  no 
further  than  those  just  cited,  and  I  understand  that  a  fuller 
report  is  not  now  to  be  obtained."0 

Lyon  complained  of  injustice  and  hard  treatment  on  the  part 
of  Judge  Paterson.  His  charge  to  the  jury  as  given  by  Whar- 
ton,  and  his  imputation  of  forgery  of  the  Barlow  letter,  sus 
tain  the  complaint  of  Lyon,  and  with  the  ruffianly  conduct  of 
marshal  Fitch  to  the  prisoner,  which  a  decent  judge  would  not 
have  tolerated,  all  go  to  prove  that  Paterson  was  a  fit  tool  of 
tyranny,  if  not  as  murderously  inclined  as  a  Norbury,  still  be 
longing  to  the  same  detestable  family  of  judicial  sleuths. 

After  a  long,  and  as  I  feared  fruitless  search,  like  Mr.  Whar- 
ton's,  for  the  official  record  of  this  celebrated  trial,  I  at  last  dug 
it  out  of  a  forgotten  Congressional  report.  Those  ponderous 
tomes  John  Randolph  once  likened  to  mausoleums  of  the 
dead, — "Why  publish  them?"  quoth  the  Knight  of  Roanoke. 
"  Nobody  reads  them ;  nobody  is  expected  to  read  them." 
And  Longfellow  wittily  corroborates  Randolph:  "Thanks," 
wrote  the  poet  to  Charles  Sumner,  "  for  your  letter  of  four 
lines,  one  of  which  I  could  not  read!  Thanks  for  the  four 
volumes  of  '  The  Globe,'  none  of  which  I  shall  read!  " 

But  these  old  reports  and  public  documents  are  of  value 
to  the  historian,  and  from  the  pages  of  this  one,  I  am  enabled 
to  rescue  from  oblivion  the  official  record,  evidently  softened, 
and  pruned  of  many  of  its  harsh  features,  of  the  trial  of  Mat- 

«  "  State  Trials  of  the  United  States,"  p.  331. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  357 

thew  Lyon.  The  counts  and  specifications  and  cumbrous, 
common  law  tautology  of  the  indictment  will  be  dreary  enough 
to  the  average  lay  reader,  but  lawyers  and  judges  may  be  in 
terested  in  a  case  which  is  the  most  serious  blot  on  their  pro 
fession  in  the  annals  of  the  American  judiciary.  For  forty 
years  the  case  of  Matthew  Lyon  continually  recurred  in  the 
proceedings  and  debates  of  the  United  States  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  for  a  reparation  of  the  crime  against 
the  Constitution  in  the  only  possible  way,  by  refunding  to  the 
victim  or  his  heirs  the  fine  and  costs,  with  interest  in  full  on 
the  money,  iniquitously  wrung  from  his  pocket.  Year  after 
year  justice  was  thwarted,  and  the  ill-gotten  money  remained 
in  the  treasury.  But  year  after  year  the  American  conscience 
revolted  and  came  back  to  the  case,  and  many  of  the  foremost 
of  our  statesmen  made  that  national  wrong  against  a  patriotic 
citizen  the  text  of  eloquent  arguments  for  restitution.  The 
memory  and  name  of  John  Adams  were  darkened  by  those 
denunciations  of  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  and  in  truth 
until  that  money  was  taken  out  of  the  treasury  in  i84o  and 
paid  to  the  heirs  of  Matthew  Lyon,  then  long  since  gone  to 
his  reward,  the  character  of  John  Adams,  in  many  respects 
one  of  the  noblest  in  the  history  of  the  Republic,  remained 
unvindicated  from  an  act  of  oppression  which  had  proved  the 
Iliad  of  all  his  woes. 

"  CASE  OF  MATTHEW  LYON. 

Mr.  McLean,  of  Kentucky,  from  the  committee  appointed  on 
the  memorial  of  Matthew  Lyon,  made  a  report  thereon,  accom 
panied  with  a  bill  for  his  relief;  which,  by  leave  of  the  House, 
was  presented,  read  the  first  and  second  time,  and  committed 


358  MATTHEW   LYON 

to  a  Committee  of  the  Whole  to-morrow.  The  report  is  as 
follows : 

The  petitioner  states  that,  in  violation  of  that  provision  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America  which  says 
"  Congress  shall  make  no  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech 
or  of  the  press,"  Congress  in  July,  1798,  passed  the  act  com 
monly  called  the  sedition  law;  that,  some  time  previous  to  the 
passage  of  this  bill,  there  appeared  in  the  Philadelphia  Fed 
eral  papers  a  violent  attack  upon  his  character  extracted  from 
the  Vermont  Journal,  charging  him  with  many  political  enor 
mities,  particularly  with  the  high  crime  of  opposing  the  Execu 
tive;  that  he  wrote  a  reply  to  this  charge  in  Philadelphia,  on 
the  2oth  of  June,  1798,  and  on  the  same  day  put  the  letter, 
directed  to  the  editor  of  the  said  Vermont  Journal,  into  the 
post  office  at  Philadelphia,  twenty  four  days  before  the  pas 
sage  of  the  sedition  law.  For  the  publication  of  this  letter 
he  was  indicted  in  October  following,  in  the  circuit  court  of 
the  United  States  in  the  Vermont  district.  In  the  same  indict 
ment,  he  was  charged  with  publishing  a  copy  of  a  letter  from 
an  American  diplomatic  character  in  France  to  a  member  of 
Congress  in  Philadelphia;  also  for  aiding,  assisting,  and  abet 
ting  in  the  publication  of  said  letter. 

He  states  said  letter  was  written  by  Joel  Barlow  to  Abraham 
Baldwin  then  a  member  of  Congress:  He  denies  that  he 
printed  said  letter,  or  aided  or  abetted  in  the  printing  of  it; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  that  he  used  his  endeavors  to  suppress 
it,  by  destroying  the  copies  which  came  into  his  possession. 
He  states  that,  owing  to  the  political  party  zeal  which  pre 
vailed  in  the  United  States  at  that  time,  much  unfairness  was 
used  in  the  trial,  both  by  the  marshal  in  summoning  the  jury, 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  359 

and  the  judge  who  presided,  in  his  instructions  to  them,  and 
thereby  a  verdict  of  guilty  was  returned  against  him  by  the 
jury;  and  upon  that  verdict  the  court  sentenced  him  to  pay 
a  fine  of  $1,000,  the  costs  of  suit,  be  imprisoned  four  calen 
dar  months,  and  until  the  fine  and  costs  were  paid.  He 
states  that,  by  virtue  of  said  judgment,  he  was  arrested  and  con 
fined  in  a  dungeon,  the  common  receptacle  of  thieves  and  mur 
derers,  fifty  miles  distant  from  the  place  of  his  trial,  although 
there  was  a  decent  roomy  jail  in  the  county  in  which  he  lived, 
and  in  the  town  where  the  trial  was  had,  which  jail  the  Fed 
eral  Government  had  the  use  of;  that  much  severity  was  ex 
ercised  towards  him  during  his  imprisonment;  that  he  lan 
guished  in  the  loathsome  prison  more  than  six  weeks  in  the 
months  of  October,  November,  and  December,  in  the  cold 
climate  of  Vermont,  without  fire,  before  he  was  allowed,  at 
his  own  expense,  to  introduce  a  small  stove,  or  to  put  glass 
into  the  aperture  which  let  in  a  small  glimmer  of  light  through 
the  iron  grate. 

He  states  that  he  is  poor,  and  asks  Congress  to  refund  to 
him  $1,000,  the  fine  which  he  has  paid,  the  costs  of  suit,  for 
one  hundred  and  twenty-three  days'  pay  as  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  while  he  was  unconstitutionally  detained  from  a  seat 
in  that  body,  reasonable  damages  for  being  suddenly  deprived 
of  his  liberty,  put  to  great  expense,  and  disabled  from  paying 
that  attention  to  his  concerns,  which,  in  other  circumstances, 
he  would  have  been  allowed  to  do,  and  such  interest  on  those 
sums  as  public  creditors  are  entitled  to. 

Your  committee  state  that  the  prosecution  against  the  said 
petitioner,  the  judgment,  imprisonment,  and  payment  of 
$1,000,  the  fine,  and  $60.96,  the  costs  of  suit,  are  proved  by  a 


360  MATTHEW   LYON 

copy  of  the  record  of  proceedings  in  said  cause,  which  is  made 
a  part  of  this  report.  The  committee  are  of  opinion  that  the 
law  of  Congress  under  which  the  said  Matthew  Lyon  was 
prosecuted  and  punished  was  unconstitutional,  and  therefore 
he  ought  to  have  the  money  which  has  been  paid  by  him  re 
funded;  but,  should  they  be  mistaken  as  to  the  unconstitu 
tionally  of  this  law,  yet  they  think  there  are  peculiar  circum 
stances  of  hardship  attending  this  case  which  call  for  relief. 
Your  committee,  therefore,  ask  leave  to  report  a  bill. 
OFFICIAL  RECORD  OF  THE  CASE  CERTIFIED. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  to  all  who  shall  see  these 
presents,  greeting: 

Know  ye,  that  among  the  pleas  of  our  circuit  court  of  sec 
ond  circuit  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Vermont  district,  there 
is  a  certain  record  remaining,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit : 

United  States  of  America, 

Vermont  District,  to  wit: 

Pleas  of  the  circuit  court  of  the  said  United  States,  at  their 
term  begun  and  held  at  Rutland,  within  and  for  the  said  Ver 
mont  district,  on  Wednesday  the  3rd  day  of  October,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1798,  and  of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  the  twenty-third,  before  the  honorable  William  Pater- 
son,  esq.,  one  of  the  associate  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  honorable  Samuel  Hitchcock, 
esq.,  district  judge  within  and  for  the  said  Vermont  district, 
and  judges  of  said  circuit  court  according  to  the  form  of  the 
statute  in  such  case  made  and  provided. 

United  States  versus  Matthew  Lyon. 

Be  it  remembered  that,  at  a  term  of  the  circuit  court  of  the 
said  United  States,  begun  and  held  at  Rutland,  within  and 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  361 

for  the  district  aforesaid  on  the  third  day  of  October,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
and  of  the  independence  of  the  said  United  States  the  twenty- 
third,  before  the  honorable  William  Paterson,  esq.,  one  of 
the  associate  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  said  United 
States,  and  the  honorable  Samuel  Hitchcock,  esq.  district 
judge  within  and  for  the  said  district  of  Vermont,  judges  of 
the  said  circuit  court,  according  to  the  form  of  the  statute  in 
such  case  made  and  provided,  the  grand  jurors  within  and 
for  the  body  of  said  district  of  Vermont,  to  wit:  Eli  Cogswell, 
Nathan  Pratt,  David  Osgood,  Ozias  Fuller,  Royal  Crafts,  Abner 
Mead,  Gideon  Horton,  Abraham  Gilbert,  Ebenezer  Worster, 
John  Mott,  Thomas  Hammond,  Adgate  Lothrop,John  Penfield, 
Ebenezer  Hopkins,  Brewster  Higly,  Zadock  Remington,  Abi- 
jah  Brownson,  and  Joel  Culver,  good  and  lawful  freeholders  of 
the  said  district,  then  and  there  empanelled,  sworn  and  charged 
to  inquire,  for  the  said  United  States,  and  for  the  body  of  the 
district  aforesaid,  did  present,  that  Matthew  Lyon,  of  Fair 
Haven,  in  the  said  district  of  Vermont,  being  a  malicious  and 
seditious  person,  and  of  a  depraved  mind  and  wicked  and  dia 
bolical  disposition,  and  deceitfully,  wickedly  and  maliciously 
contriving  to  defame  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  with  intent  and  design  to  defame  the  said  Government  of 
the  United  States,  and  John  Adams,  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  bring  the  said  Government  and  Presi 
dent  into  contempt  and  disrepute;  and  with  intent  and  design 
to  excite,  against  the  said  Government  and  President  the 
hatred  of  the  good  people  of  the  United  States,  and  to  stir 
up  sedition  in  the  United  States,  at  Windsor,  in  the  said  dis 
trict  of  Vermont,  on  the  3ist  day  of  July  last,  did,  with  force 


362  MATTHEW   LYON 

and  arms,  wickedly,  knowingly,  and  maliciously  write,  print, 
utter,  and  publish,  and  did  then  and  there  cause  and  procure 
to  be  written,  printed,  uttered  and  published,  a  certain  scan 
dalous  and  seditious  writing,  or  libel  in  form  of  a  letter,  di 
rected  to  Mr.  Spooner,  (meaning  Alden  Spooner,  printer  and 
publisher  of  a  certain  weekly  newspaper,  in  Windsor  afore 
said,  commonly  called  Spooner's  Vermont  Journal,)  signed 
by  the  said  Matthew  Lyon  and  dated  at  Philadelphia  on  the 
2oth  day  of  June  last;  in  which  said  libel  of  and  concerning 
the  said  John  Adams,  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
Executive  Government  of  the  United  States,  are  contained, 
among  other  things,  divers  scurrilous,  feigned,  false,  scandal 
ous,  seditious,  and  malicious  matters,  according  to  the  tenor 
following,  to  wit:  '  As  to  the  Executive,  (meaning  the  said 
President  of  the  United  States)  when  I  shall  see  the  effects 
of  that  power  (meaning  the  executive  power  of  the  United 
States,  vested  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  the 
said  President)  bent  on  the  promotion  of  the  comfort,  the 
happiness,  and  accommodation  of  the  people,  (meaning  the 
people  of  the  United  States,)  that  Executive  (meaning  the 
President  of  the  United  States)  shall  have  my  (meaning  the 
said  Matthew  Lyon's)  zealous  and  uniform  support.  But 
whenever  I  (meaning  the  said  Matthew  Lyon)  shall,  on  the 
part  of  the  Executive,  (meaning  the  said  John  Adams,  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States)  see  every  consideration  of  public 
welfare  swallowed  up  in  a  continual  grasp  for  power,  in  an 
unbounded  thirst  for  ridiculous  pomp,  foolish  adulation  or 
selfish  avarice;  (meaning  the  said  Matthew  Lyon)  shall  be 
hold  men  of  real  merit  daily  turned  out  of  office,  for  no  other 
cause  but  independency  of  sentiment;  (meaning  that  men  of 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  363 

real  merit,  holding  offices  under  the  laws  and  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  were  daily,  by  the  said  John  Adams, 
as  President  of  the  United  States,  turned  out  of  office  for 
the  cause  of  having  independency  of  spirit)  when  I  (meaning 
the  said  Matthew  Lyon)  shall  see  men  of  firmness,  merit, 
years,  abilities,  and  experience,  discarded  in  their  applica 
tions  for  office  for  fear  they  possess  that  independence,  and 
men  of  meanness  preferred,  for  the  ease  with  which  they  can 
take  up  and  advocate  opinions,  the  consequence  of  which 
they  know  but  little  of;  (meaning  that  men  of  firmness,  years, 
merit,  ability,  and  experience,  were,  by  the  said  John  Adams, 
as  President  of  the  United  States,  in  violation  of  the  duties 
of  his  said  office  neglected  in  appointments  to  office  under 
the  laws  and  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  discarded 
in  their  applications  for  such  offices  and  appointments;  and 
that  men  of  meanness,  who  are  unfit  for  the  exercise  of  such 
offices,  under  the  laws  and  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
were,  by  the  said  John  Adams,  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  preferred  to  such  offices  and  appointment,  on  account 
of  the  ease  with  which  they  took  up  and  advocated  opinions, 
of  the  consequences  of  which  they  were  ignorant);  when  I 
(meaning  the  said  Matthew  Lyon)  shall  see  the  sacred  name 
of  religion  employed  as  a  State  engine  to  make  mankind  hate 
and  persecute  one  another,  I  (meaning  the  said  Matthew 
Lyon)  shall  not  be  their  humble  advocate ; '  (meaning  that 
the  sacred  name  of  religion  was,  by  the  said  John  Adams,  in 
his  capacity  of  President  of  the  United  States,  employed  as 
an  engine  of  State  to  make  mankind  hate  and  persecute  each 
other:)  to  the  great  scandal  and  infamy  of  the  said  John 
Adams  in  his  capacity  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and 


364  MATTHEW   LYON 

to  the  great  scandal  and  infamy  of  the  said  Government  of 
the  said  United  States.  And  so  the  jurors  aforesaid,  upon 
their  oaths  aforesaid,  do  say  that  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  at 
Windsor  aforesaid,  on  the  3ist  day  of  July  aforesaid,  did, 
knowingly,  wickedly,  deceitfully,  and  maliciously  with  intent 
and  design  to  defame  the  said  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  said  John  Adams,  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  bring  the  said  Government  and  President  of 
the  United  States  into  contempt  and  disrepute  with  the  good 
people  of  the  United  States,  and  to  excite  against  them,  the 
said  Government  and  President  of  the  United  States,  the 
hatred  of  the  good  people  of  the  United  States,  and  with 
intent  and  design  to  stir  up  sedition  within  the  United  States 
against  the  Government  thereof,  write,  print,  utter,  and  pub 
lish,  and  cause  and  procure  to  be  written,  printed,  uttered 
and  published,  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  the  said  false,  feigned, 
scandalous,  and  malicious  writing  and  libel  aforesaid,  contain 
ing,  among  other  things,  the  said  divers  scurrilous,  false, 
feigned,  scandalous,  seditious,  and  malicious  matters  afore 
said,  in  contempt  of  the  good  and  wholesome  laws  of  the 
United  States,  to  the  evil  and  pernicious  example  of  others 
in  like  case  offending  against  the  statute  of  the  United  States 
in  such  case  made  and  provided,  and  against  the  peace  and 
dignity  of  the  United  States. 

And  the  jurors  aforesaid,  upon  their  oaths  aforesaid,  do 
further  present,  that  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  being  a  malicious 
and  seditious  person,  and  of  a  depraved  mind,  and  of  a  wicked 
and  diabolical  disposition,  also  deceitfully,  wickedly,  and  ma 
liciously  contriving  to  defame  the  Government,  and  with  in 
tent  to  defame  John  Adams,  Esquire,  President  of  the  United 


THE   HAMPDEN    OF   CONGRESS  365 

States,  and  with  intent  to  defame  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  being  one  branch  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  bring  the  said  Government,  President  and  Senate  into 
contempt  and  disrepute,  and  to  excite  against  the  said  Gov 
ernment,  President  and  Senate  the  hatred  of  the  good  people 
of  the  United  States,  and  with  intent  and  design  to  stir  up 
sedition  within  the  United  States,  did,  at  Fair  Haven,  in  the 
said  district  of  Vermont,  on  the  1st  day  of  September  now 
last  past,  with  force  and  arms  wickedly,  knowingly,  and  ma 
liciously  write,  print,  utter,  and  publish,  and  then  and  there 
did  cause  and  procure  to  be  written,  printed,  uttered,  and 
published,  a  certain  false,  feigned,  scandalous  and  seditious 
writing,  or  libel,  entitled  '  Copy  of  a  letter  from  an  American 
diplomatic  character  in  France  to  a  member  of  Congress  in 
Philadelphia ',  in  which  said  writing,  or  libel,  of  and  concern 
ing  the  said  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  the  said 
President  and  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  of  and  con 
cerning  the  speech  of  John  Adams,  Esquire,  then  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  of  and  concerning  the  answer  of 
the  said  Senate  to  the  said  speech,  are  contained,  among  other 
things,  divers  scurrilous,  feigned,  false,  scandalous,  seditious, 
and  malicious  matters  according  to  the  tenor  following,  to 
wit :  '  The  misunderstanding  between  the  two  Governments 
(meaning  the  Governments  of  the  said  United  States  and 
France)  has  become  extremely  alarming;  confidence  is  com 
pletely  destroyed;  mistrusts,  jealousy,  and  a  disposition  to  a 
wrong  attribution  of  motives  are  so  apparent,  as  to  require 
the  utmost  caution  in  every  word  and  action  that  are  to  come 
from  your  Executive,  (meaning  the  Executive  Government 
of  the  United  States)  I  mean  if  your  object  is  to  avoid  hos- 


366  MATTHEW   LYON 

tilities.  Had  this  truth  been  understood  with  you  (meaning 
the  people  of  the  United  States)  before  the  recall  of  Monroe, 
(meaning  James  Monroe,  the  late  Ambassador  from  the 
United  States  to  the  Republic  of  France,)  before  the  coming 
and  second  coming  of  Pinckney  (meaning  Charles  C.  Pinck- 
ney,  one  of  the  late  Envoys  Extraordinary  from  the  United 
States  to  the  said  Republic  of  France);  had  it  guided  the  pens 
that  wrote  the  bullying  speech  of  your  President  (meaning 
the  said  speech  of  John  Adams,  then  and  still  President  of 
the  United  States,  to  both  Houses  of  Congress  at  the  opening 
of  their  session  in  November,  1797,)  and  stupid  answer  of 
your  Senate,  (meaning  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  being 
one  house  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States),  at  the  open 
ing  of  Congress  (meaning  the  Congress  of  the  United  States) 
in  November  last,  (meaning  at  the  session  of  the  said  Congress 
in  November,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1797,)  I  should  prob 
ably  have  had  no  occasion  to  address  you  this  letter,  (mean 
ing  the  said  writing  or  libel;)  but  when  we  found  him  (mean 
ing  the  said  John  Adams,  President  as  aforesaid)  borrowing 
the  language  of  Edmund  Burke,  and  telling  the  world  that, 
although  he  should  succeed  in  treating  with  the  French, 
(meaning  the  Government  of  France,)  there  was  no  depend 
ence  to  be  placed  on  any  of  their  engagements,  (meaning  the 
engagements  of  the  said  Government  of  France;)  that  their 
religion  and  morality  (meaning  the  religion  and  morality  of 
the  French  nation)  were  at  an  end;  that  they  (meaning  the 
French  nation)  had  turned  pirates  and  plunderers,  and  it 
would  be  necessary  to  be  perpetually  armed  against  them 
(meaning  the  said  French  nation;)  though  you  are  at  peace, 
we  (meaning  the  people  of  France)  wondered  that  the  answer 


THE   HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  367 

of  both  Houses  (meaning  both  Houses  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States)  had  not  been  an  order  to  send  him  (meaning 
the  said  John  Adams,  Esquire,  President  of  the  United  States) 
to  a  mad-house.  Instead  of  this,  the  Senate  (meaning  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States)  have  echoed  the  speech  (meaning 
the  said  speech  of  said  John  Adams,  as  President  of  the 
United  States)  with  more  servility  than  ever  George  the  Third 
(meaning  the  King  of  Great  Britain)  experienced  from  either 
House  of  Parliament ',  (meaning  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain;)  to  the  great  scandal  and  infamy  of  the  said  Govern 
ment  of  the  said  United  States,  and  the  said  John  Adams, 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  said  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  being  one  of  the  Houses  of  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States.  And  so  the  jurors  aforesaid,  upon  their 
oaths,  aforesaid,  do  say  that  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  at  Fair 
Haven,  aforesaid,  on  the  1st  day  of  September  aforesaid,  did, 
knowingly,  wickedly,  deceitfully,  and  maliciously,  with  intent 
and  design  to  defame  the  said  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  said  John  Adams,  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  Senate,  being  one  House  of  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  and  to  bring  the  said  Government,  Presi 
dent,  and  Senate  of  the  United  States  into  great  contempt 
and  disrepute  with  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  to 
excite  against  them,  the  said  Government,  President  and  Sen 
ate  of  the  United  States,  the  hatred  of  the  good  people  of  the 
said  United  States,  and  with  intent  to  stir  up  sedition  within 
the  United  States  against  the  Government  thereof,  write, 
print,  utter,  and  publish,  and  cause  and  procure  to  be  writ 
ten,  printed,  uttered,  and  published,  for  the  purpose  aforesaid, 
the  said  false,  feigned,  scandalous,  and  malicious  writing  and 


368  MATTHEW   LYON 

libel  aforesaid,  containing,  among  other  things,  the  said  divers 
scurrilous,  false,  feigned,  scandalous,  and  seditious  matters 
aforesaid,  in  contempt  of  the  good  and  wholesome  laws  of  the 
United  States,  to  the  evil  and  pernicious  example  of  others  in 
like  case  offending  against  the  statute  of  the  United  States  in 
such  case  made  and  provided,  and  against  the  peace  and  dig 
nity  of  the  said  United  States. 

And  the  jurors  aforesaid,  upon  their  oaths  aforesaid,  do 
further  present,  that  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  being  a  malicious 
man,  of  a  depraved  mind,  and  of  a  wicked  and  diabolical  dispo 
sition,  and  also  deceitfully,  wickedly,  and  maliciously  con 
triving  to  defame  the  Government  of  the  said  United  States, 
and  with  intent  and  design  to  defame  the  said  Government, 
and  the  said  John  Adams,  Esquire,  President  of  the  said 
United  States,  and  the  Senate,  being  one  of  the  Houses  of 
the  Congress  of  the  said  United  States,  and  to  bring  the  said 
Government,  President,  and  Senate  of  the  United  States  into 
disrepute,  and  contempt,  and  with  intent  to  excite  the  hatred 
of  the  good  people  of  the  United  States,  against  the  said 
Government  and  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  to  stir 
up  sedition  within  the  said  United  States  against  the  Govern 
ment  thereof,  did,  at  Fair  Haven,  aforesaid,  on  the  1st  day 
of  September,  aforesaid,  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  with  force 
and  arms,  knowingly,  wickedly,  deceitfully,  maliciously,  and 
willingly  assist,  aid,  and  abet  in  the  falsely  and  maliciously 
writing,  printing,  uttering,  and  publishing  a  certain  false, 
feigned,  scandalous,  and  seditious  -writing,  or  libel,  entitled 
'  Copy  of  a  letter  from  an  American  diplomatic  character  in 
France  to  a  member  of  Congress  in  Philadelphia; '  in  which 
said  writing,  or  libel,  of  and  concerning  the  Government  of 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  369 

the  United  States,  and  the  said  President  and  Senate  of  the 
said  United  States,  and  of  and  concerning  the  said  speech 
of  the  said  John  Adams,  as  President  of  the  United  States, 
to  both  Houses  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  and  concerning  the  answer  of  the  said  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  to  the  said  speech  of  the  said  John  Adams,  President 
of  the  United  States,  in  which  said  writing,  or  libel,  among 
other  things,  are  contained  divers  false,  feigned,  scandalous 
and  seditious  matters,  according  to  the  tenor  following,  to 
wit :  '  Had  this  truth  been  understood  with  you  (meaning  the 
people  of  the  United  States)  before  the  recall  of  Monroe, 
(meaning  James  Monroe,  Ambassador  from  the  United  States 
to  the  Republic  of  France,)  before  the  coming  and  second 
coming  of  Pinckney,  (meaning  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  one  of 
the  Envoys  Extraordinary  from  the  United  States  to  the  said 
Republic;)  had  it  guided  the  pens  that  wrote  the  bullying 
speech  of  your  President,  and  the  stupid  answer  of  your  Sen 
ate  at  the  opening  of  Congress,  in  November  last,  (meaning 
the  speech  of  the  said  John  Adams,  as  delivered  by  him  to 
both  Houses  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  at  the  open 
ing  of  their  session,  in  November  last,  and  the  answer  of  the 
Senate,  being  one  of  the  Houses  of  the  said  Congress,  to  the 
said  speech,)  I  should  probably  have  had  no  occasion  to  ad 
dress  you  this  letter/  (meaning  the  said  writing,  or  libel,  last 
mentioned.)  '  We  (meaning  the  people  of  France)  wondered 
that  the  answer  (meaning  the  answer  to  the  said  speech)  of 
both  Houses  (meaning  both  Houses  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States)  had  not  been  an  order  to  send  him  (meaning 
the  said  John  Adams,  President  of  the  United  States)  to  a 
mad-house; '  to  the  great  scandal  and  infamy  of  the  said  John 


370  MATTHEW  LYON 

Adams,  in  his  said  capacity  of  President  of  the  United  States, 
to  the  great  scandal  and  infamy  of  the  said  Senate,  being  one 
of  the  Houses  of  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  to  the 
great  scandal  and  infamy  of  the  Government  of  the  said  United 
States.  And  so  the  jurors  aforesaid,  upon  their  oaths  afore 
said,  do  say  that  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  with  force  and  arms, 
at  Fair  Haven,  aforesaid,  in  the  district  aforesaid,  on  the  first 
day  of  September  aforesaid,  did,  knowingly,  willingly,  wick 
edly,  and  maliciously,  and  with  intent,  and  design  to  defame 
the  said  John  Adams,  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
said  Senate,  being  one  of  the  Houses  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  said  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  bring  the  said  Government,  President,  and  Senate  into 
contempt  and  disrepute  with  the  good  people  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  excite  against  them,  the  said  Government,  Presi 
dent,  and  Senate  of  the  United  States,  the  hatred  of  the  good 
people  of  the  said  United  States,  and  with  intent  to  stir  up 
sedition  within  the  said  United  States  against  the  Govern- 
men  thereof,  aid,  assist,  and  abet  in  the  maliciously  writing, 
uttering,  and  publishing,  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  the  said 
false,  feigned,  scandalous,  and  malicious  writing  and  libel  last 
aforesaid,  containing,  among  other  things,  the  said  divers, 
scurrilous,  false,  feigned,  scandalous,  seditious,  and  malicious 
matters  aforesaid,  in  contempt  of  the  good  and  wholesome 
laws  of  the  United  States,  to  the  evil  and  pernicious  example 
of  others  in  like  case  offending,  contrary  to  the  form,  force 
and  effect  of  the  statute  of  the  United  States  in  such  case  made 
and  provided,  and  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  United 
States. 
Whereupon,  the  marshal  of  the  district  aforesaid  is  com- 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  371 

manded  forthwith  to  apprehend  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  if 
to  be  found  within  his  district,  and  him  safely  keep,  to  answer 
to  the  charges  whereof  he  here  stands  indicted. 

And  afterwards,  to  wit,  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  same  October 
aforesaid,  at  Rutland  aforesaid,  before  the  court  aforesaid,  here 
cometh  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  under  the  custody  of  Jabez 
G.  Fitch,  Esq.,  marshal  of  the  district  aforesaid,  and  by  the 
said  marshal  being  brought,  in  his  own  proper  person,  to  the 
bar  of  the  said  court  here,  was  forthwith  demanded,  concern 
ing  the  premises  in  the  said  indictment  above  specified  and 
charged  upon  him,  how  he  will  acquit  himself  thereof;  he,  the 
said  Matthew  Lyon,  saith  that  he  is  not  guilty  thereof,  and 
for  trial  puts  himself  upon  the  country;  and  Charles  Marsh, 
Esquire,  attorney  for  the  said  United  States  within  and  for  the 
district  aforesaid,  who  prosecutes  for  the  said  United  States 
in  his  behalf,  doth  the  like. 

Therefore,  let  a.  jury  of  good  and  lawful  freeholders  of  the 
district  aforesaid,  on  the  eighth  day  of  the  same  October  afore 
said,  at  Rutland,  in  the  district  aforesaid,  by  whom  the  truth 
of  the  matters  aforesaid  may  be  better  known — who  are  not 
of  kin  to  the  said  Matthew  Lyon — to  recognise,  upon  their 
oath,  whether  the  said  Matthew  Lyon  be  guilty  or  not  guilty 
of  the  charges  of  which  he  stands  indicted  as  aforesaid ;  because, 
as  well  the  said  Charles  Marsh,  Esquire,  who  prosecutes  for  the 
said  United  States  in  his  behalf,  as  the  said  Matthew  Lyon, 
have  put  themselves  upon  that  jury  for  trial  of  said  issue. 

And  afterwards,  to  wit,  on  the  same  eighth  day  of  October 
aforesaid,  at  Rutland,  in  the  district  aforesaid,  before  the  same 
court  aforesaid,  came  as  well  the  said  Charles  Marsh,  Esquire, 
who  prosecutes  for  the  said  United  States  in  this  behalf,  as 


372  MATTHEW  LYON 

the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  in  his  own  proper  person;  and  the 
jurors  of  the  jury  aforesaid,  by  the  said  Marshal  for  this  pur 
pose  empannelled  and  returned,  to  wit,  John  Ramsdel,  Jabez 
Ward,  John  Hitchcock,  jun.,  Bildad  Orcutt,  Andrew  Leach, 
Daniel  June,  Joshua  Goss,  Philip  Jones,  Josiah  Harris, 
Ephraim  Dudley,  Moses  Vail,  and  Elisha  Brown,  who,  being 
called,  came,  and  being  elected,  tried,  and  sworn  to  speak  the 
truth  of  and  concerning  the  premises,  upon  their  oaths  say  that 
the  said  Matthew  Lyon  is  guilty  of  the  charges  of  which  he 
stands  indicted  aforesaid,  in  form  aforesaid,  as  by  the  indict 
ment  aforesaid  is  supposed  against  him.  And,  upon  this,  it  is 
forthwith  demanded  of  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  if  he  hath  any 
thing  further  to  say  wherefore  the  said  court  here  ought  not, 
on  the  premises  aforesaid,  and  verdict  aforesaid,  to  proceed 
to  judgment  against  him,  who  nothing  saith.  And  afterwards, 
to  wit,  on  the  ninth  day  of  the  same  October  aforesaid,  at 
Rutland,  in  the  district  aforesaid,  before  the  court  aforesaid, 
came  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  in  his  own  proper  person. 

Whereupon,  all  and  singular  the  premises  being  seen,  and 
by  the  judges  of  the  court  here  fully  understood,  it  is  consid 
ered  and  ordered  by  the  court  that  the  said  Matthew  Lyon 
be  imprisoned  four  calendar  months;  that  he  pay  a  fine  of 
one  thousand  dollars,  and  the  costs  of  this  prosecution;  and 
that  he  stand  committed  until  this  sentence  be  complied  with. 
Costs  of  prosecution  taxed  at  sixty  dollars  and  ninety-six  cents. 

Judgment  entered  this  ninth  day  of  October,  A.  D.  1798. 

By  order  of  court : 

CEPHAS  SMITH,  JUN.,  Clerk. 

Mittimus  issues  October  9,  1798,  at  eight  o'clock,  forenoon. 

CEPHAS  SMITH,  JUN.,  Clerk. 

I  hereby  certify  that  the  preceding  is  a  true  copy  of  the 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  373 

record,  examined  and  collated  this  2ist  day  of  December,  A.  D. 

1819,  by  me. 

JESSE  GOVE,  Clerk  Vt.  Dist. 

District  of  Vermont,  to  wit: 

The  President  of  the  United  States  to  the  Marshal  of  the 
District  of  Vermont. 

Whereas  Matthew  Lyon,  of  Fair  Haven,  in  the  county  of 
Rutland,  in  the  district  of  Vermont,  before  the  circuit  court  of 
the  United  States,  begun  and  held  at  Rutland,  within  and  for 
the  said  district,  on  the  third  day  of  October,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-eight,  and  of 
the  independence  of  the  said  United  States  the  twenty-third, 
was  convicted  of  writing,  printing,  uttering,  and  publishing 
certain  false,  scandalous,  and  seditious  libels,  and  of  aiding, 
abetting,  and  assisting  therein,  contrary  to  the  form,  force,  and 
effect  of  the  statute  entitled  '  An  act  in  addition  to  an  act  en 
titled  An  act  for  the  punishment  of  certain  crimes  against  the 
United  States/  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  the  term 
of  four  calendar  months,  to  pay  a  fine  of  one  thousand  dollars 
to  the  United  States,  and  the  costs  of  this  prosecution,  taxed 
at  sixty  dollars  and  ninety-six  cents,  as  appears  of  record, 
whereof  execution  remains  to  be  done:  Therefore, 

By  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  you  are  hereby  com 
manded  to  imprison  him,  the  said  Matthew  Lyon,  in  either 
of  the  jails  of  the  United  States,  within  and  for  the  district  of 
Vermont,  for 'the  term  of  four  calendar  months  from  the  date 
hereof:  and  on  his  (the  said  Matthew  Lyon's)  neglect  or  re 
fusal  to  pay  said  fine  and  costs,  you  are  to  keep  and  detain 
him,  the  said  Matthew,  in  imprisonment  as  aforesaid,  until  he 
pay  the  said  fine  and  costs,  with  fifty  cents  for  this  writ,  and 


374  MATTHEW   LYON 

the  costs  of  commitment,  together  with  your  fees,  or  until  he 
be  otherwise  discharged  according  to  law.  And  of  this  writ, 
with  your  doings  herein,  make  due  return  according  to  law,  at 
our  said  court,  on  the  first  day  of  May  next. 

Witness,  the  honorable  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Esquire,  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  at  Rutland 
aforesaid,  the  ninth  day  of  October,  at  eight  o'clock,  forenoon, 
A.  D.  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-eight,  and  of 
the  independence  of  the  said  United  States  the  twenty-third. 

CEPHAS  SMITH,  JUN.,  Clerk. 
District  of  Vermont,  October  10,  1798. 
By  virtue  of  the  within  writ,  or  warrant  of  commitment,  I 
committed  the  body  of  the  within-named  Matthew  Lyon,  with 
in  the  prison  in  the  city  of  Vergennes,  and  left  a  true  and  at 
tested  copy  of  this  writ,  with  my  endorsement  thereon,  with 
the  keeper  of  said  prison. 

Fees  of  commitment,  fifty  cents. 

Attest:  JABEZ  G.  FITCH,  Marshal. 

District  of  Vermont, 
Vergennes,  the  9th  day  of  February, 
8  o'clock  A.  M.  1799. 

The  within-named  Matthew  Lyon,  having  complied  with  the 
within  warrant,  is«  hereby  discharged  from  his  confinement. 
Attest:  S.  FITCH,  Marshal's  deputy."0 

The  election  for  Congress  in  Colonel  Lyon's  district  took 
place  in  September,  1798,  when  the  National  and  State  au 
thorities  combined  their  forces  to  beat  him.  His  popularity 
was  so  much  feared  as  to  induce  the  nomination  of  five  strong1 

<* "  Annals  i6th  Congress,  with  Appendix  Containing  Important 
State  Papers  and  Public  Documents,"  1620,  pp.  478  et  seq. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  375 

candidates  with  a  view  of  dividing  the  Democrats  and  drawing 
away  votes  from  Lyon.  In  a  total  poll  of  6,989,  he  received 
3,482,  Williams  1,544,  Chipman  1,370,  Abel  Spencer  268, 
Israel  Smith  226,  scattering  99.  This  brought  Lyon  within 
26  votes  of  a  clear  majority  over  all,  and  was  extremely  galling 
to  his  opponents.  His  arrest  followed  almost  immediately, 
attesting  the  folly  and  desperation  of  the  Federalists.  As  no 
one  got  a  majority,  there  was  no  election  in  September,  and 
another  trial  of  strength  at  the  polls  took  place  in  December, 
while  Lyon  was  in  Vergennes  jail,  in  close  confinement.  I 
know  of  no  other  instance  in  American  history  where  such 
a  thing  has  occurred.  The  President  of  the  United  States 
and  his  whole  party  were  actively  engaged  on  one  side,  Mat 
thew  Lyon  in  his  cell,  backed  by  his  old  associates,  the  Green 
Mountain  Boys,  on  the  other.  The  result  was  an  overwhelm 
ing  victory  for  the  prisoner,  who  proved  more  powerful  in 
shackles  than  John  Adams  in  the  Presidency.  Lyon  received 
4,576  votes,  Williams  2,444,  and  the  votes  for  all  the  other 
candidates  added  to  those  for  Williams,  fell  about  600  short 
of  Lyon's  telling  majority. 

There  was  nothing  left  for  Adams  to  do  but  to  keep  him 
in  prison.  Fitch  called  in  Federalist  lawyers  of  the  Chipman 
stripe  to  spell  out  more  sedition  in  Colonel  Lyon's  letters 
from  behind  the  bars,  in  order  that,  if  he  contrived  to  pay 
his  fine  and  get  his  discharge,  the  body  snatchers  could  take 
him  again  on  mesne  process.  Meantime  Colonel  Lyon  put 
in  many  anxious  hours  thinking  how  to  raise  the  money  in 
his  stringent  circumstances,  to  satisfy  the  vengeful  judgment 
of  Paterson  against  him.  But  fortunately  he  was  not  the  only 
lover  of  liberty  who  was  thinking  about  the  matter.  Jefferson, 


376  MATTHEW   LYON 

and  Madison,  and  Monroe,  and  Gallatin,  and  John  Taylor  of 
Caroline,  and  Stevens  Thompson  Mason  of  Loudoun,  and  the 
entire  phalanx  of  Republicans  in  Congress,  did  their  share  of 
the  thinking.  Apollos  Austin,  the  wealthy  Jeffersonian  Demo 
crat  of  Orwell,  Vermont,  he  too  was  thinking  and  pondering. 
Inspired  by  editor  Anthony  Haswell,  a  sufferer  in  the  same 
cause,  the  yeomanry  of  Vermont,  who  erst  heard  the  guns 
rattle  at  Bennington,  ran  their  hands  down  their  gaunt  pockets 
for  the  poor  man's  mite  to  fling  their  shillings  and  quarters 
and  half  dollars  into  a  wallet  of  ransom  money.  General 
Mason,  away  down  in  old  Virginia, 

"  Land  of  true  feeling,  land  forever  mine!  " 

lined  his  saddle-bags  with  a  thousand  and  sixty  dollars  in 
gold  coin,  and  started  North.  Apollos  Austin  took  incredible 
pains  to  gather  together  a  thousand  and  sixty  more  in  great 
big  silver  dollars,  and  went  from  Orwell  to  Vergennes  with 
his  strong  box  on  the  day  of  Lyon's  delivery,  since  the  fluc 
tuations  of  shinplasters  put  paper  money  out  of  the  question 
when  dealing  with  alien  and  sedition  laws'  Shylocks.0  Mat 
thew  Lyon  might  have  laid  aside  his  anxieties  and  spared 
himself  the  sacrifice  of  buying  that  lottery  grant  whereby  he 
realized  enough  money  on  the  prizes  he  sold  of  his  houses, 
mills,  factories  and  lands,  not  only  to  pay  the  fine  and  costs, 
but  to  have  a  surplus  left  to  his  credit  of  three  thousand  dol 
lars.6  But  General  Mason  paid  the  money,  and  to  this  day 
the  descendants  of  Colonel  Lyon  reverence  his  memory,  and 
name  their  children  after  him.c  The  Senator,  the  same  gentle- 

a "  Vermont  Governor  and  Council  for  1791-1804,"  Vol.  IV,  pp. 
495-96. 

&  "  Life  and  Services  of  Matthew  Lyon,"  by  Pliny  H.  White,  p.  22. 

c  See  letter  of  thanks  of  the  Republicans  or  Democrats  of  Vermont 
to  Stevens  Thompson  Mason,  United  States  Senator  from  Virginia, 
in  the  "Vermont  Gazette,"  March  28,  1799. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  377 

man  to  whom  Lyon  had  made  the  prediction  at  his  seat  in 
the  House,  on  the  passage  of  the  sedition  bill,  that  he  himself 
would  be  its  first  victim,  set  out  from  Virginia  in  full  time 
to  reach  Vermont  by  the  day  Lyon's  term  of  imprisonment 
would  expire.  He  carried,  I  repeat,  in  his  saddle-bags,  slung 
across  his  good  steed,  a  thousand  and  sixty  dollars  in  gold,  the 
sum  required  to  pay  the  fine  and  costs,  in  which  the  prisoner 
was  cast,  before  he  could  be  enlarged. 

It  was  a  beautiful  sight  to  see  this  Cavalier  from  the  South 
land  riding  abroad  into  the  far  North,  with  ransom  for  his 
imprisoned  friend.  How  Walter  Scott  would  have  rejoiced 
to  be  present  as  this  knightly  Senator  rode  forth  on  his  mis 
sion  of  loyalty  and  unselfish  devotion;  how  he  would  have 
revelled  over  those  gold  laden  saddle-bags.  The  Southerners 
are  called  sons  of  chivalry.  Here  was  chivalry  and  true  knight 
hood,  such  as  the  Wizard  of  the  North  depicts.  What  a  pic 
ture  of  General  Mason  Sir  Walter  would  have  left  us.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  pages  of  Ivanhoe  or  the  Talisman  more 
romantic  than  Mason's  ride  to  Vergennes  jail,  to  strike  the 
shackles  from  the  American  John  Hampden, — Matthew  Lyon 
of  Vermont. 

Admiral  Dewey  is  not  the  first  Vermonter  to  whom  his 
countrymen  have  awarded  a  festival  day.  Matthew  Lyon  re 
ceived  one  equally  as  impressive  a  hundred  years  ago.  Dewey 
came  back,  as  Nelson  would  have  come,  had  he  lived,  victor 
over  a  foreign  foe.  Lyon  came  back,  cheered  like  Hampden 
by  the  plaudits  of  his  countrymen,  on  a  triumphal  journey 
from  a  prison  to  Congress.  The  vast  multitude  that  welcomed 
Lyon  as  he  emerged  from  his  cell,  and  who  followed  him  on 
his  rejoicing  way,  "  reached,"  says  a  Vermont  writer,  "  from 


MATTHEW   LYON 

Vergennes,  as  they  traversed  Otter  Creek  upon  the  ice,  nearly 
to  Middlebury."0 

Mr.  White,  in  his  interesting  account  of  the  scene,  relates 
that  "  Lyon's  enemies  had  made  preparations  to  have  him 
arrested  as  soon  as  he  was  discharged  from  jail ;  but  no  sooner 
had  the  marshal  opened  the  prison  doors,  and  announced  to 
him  that  he  was  free,  than  he  shouted  '  I  am  on  my  way  to 
Philadelphia/  and  stepping  out,  started  at  once  on  his  journey. 
Congress  had  been  in  session  some  months,  and  his  privilege 
as  a  member  secured  him  from  arrest.  His  journey,"  adds 
Mr.  White,  "  was  a  triumphal  march.  A  great  concourse  of 
people  accompanied  him  on  his  way,  with  the  American  flag 
at  the  head  of  the  procession;  and  as  they  passed  along,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  towns  on  the  line  of  march  assembled 
numerously  to  greet  him.  Even  children  partook  of  the  spirit 
of  the  occasion.  As  he  passed  a  school  house  in  Tinmouth, 
the  children  were  paraded  at  the  roadside,  and  one  of  them 
offered  the  following  sentiment :  '  This  day  satisfies  Federal 
vengeance.  Our  brave  Representative,  who  has  been  suffer 
ing  for  us  under  an  unjust  sentence,  and  the  tyranny  of  a 
detested  understrapper  of  despotism,  this  day  rises  superior  to 
despotism.'  On  his  arrival  at  Bennington,  he  was  welcomed 
by  a  large  assemblage  of  Republicans,  who  greeted  him  with 
cheers,  original  songs  and  a  formal  address,  to  which  he  briefly 
responded,  and  then  pursued  his  journey."6 

Hon.  William  Slade,  a  Representative  from  Vermont,  in  a 
speech  in  Congress,  delivered  May  23,  1840,  said:  "The 
Democrats  of  the  day  gathered  in  a  great  assembly  round  the 

"  Vermont  Governor  and  Council,"  IV,  495. 

"  Life  and  Services  of  Matthew  Lyon,"  by  Pliny  H.  White,  p.  22. 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF  CONGRESS  379 

jail,  an  assembly  not  equalled  by  any  I  have  ever  seen,  save 
the  Grand  Convention  at  Baltimore,  and  a  voluntary  contri 
bution  was  called  for  and  taken  up;  but  before  it  could  be 
applied,  the  fine  had  been  paid,  either  through  the  intervention 
of  Colonel  Lyon's  friends  in  another  county,  or  by  his  own 
means.  As  soon  as  Lyon  was  at  the  jail  door,  he  proclaimed 
that  he  was  on  his  way  to  Congress.  The  cavalcade  which 
attended  him  stopped  at  my  father's  house,  and  there  all  par 
took  of  cakes  and  hard  cider  in  true  Democratic  style/'0 

^It  would  extend  these  pages  too  much  to  multiply  accounts 
of  the  progress  of  Colonel  Lyon  to  the  seat  of  Government. 
As  he  drove  off  with  his  noble  wife  seated  by  his  side  in  a 
sleigh  drawn  by  four  horses,  the  rejoicing  of  many  thousands 
of  people  attended  him  on  his  way.  A  mighty  concourse 
joined  his  company  in  the  journey  through  the  State,  and  simi 
lar  scenes  of  acclamation  and  escort  of  great  processions  of 
people  were  kept  up  during  the  whole  journey  through  New 
York,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  I  will  conclude  the 
description  by  quoting  what  a  very  graphic  writer  says  in  a 
volume  published  in  1899,  in  the  Henry  E.  Scudder  American 
Commonwealth  Series,  now  being  issued  by  Houghton,  Mifflin 
and  Company.  The  author  is  Mr.  Rowland  E.  Robinson.  He 
remarks : 

"  Measures  were  taken  for  the  payment  of  Lyon's  fine  in 
indisputably  legal  tender,  one  citizen  of  the  State  providing 
the  sum  in  silver  dollars,  and  one  ardent  Republican  from 
North  Carolina  coming  all  the  way  from  that  State  with  the 
amount  in  gold."  Mr.  Robinson  must  correct  an  error  which 
has  crept  in  here  in  another  edition,  which  he  has  borrowed 

0 "  Congressional  Globe,"  26th  Congress,  p.  413. 


380  MATTHEW  LYON 

from  Mr.  Roswell  Bottom's  article  on  the  subject  in  the  fourth 
volume  of  the  Vermont  Governor  and  Council.  It  was 
Senator  Mason  of  Virginia,  not  of  North  Carolina,  who 
brought  the  gold.  "  But  Lyon's  political  friends,"  continues 
Mr.  Robinson,  "  desired  to  share  the  honor  of  paying  his  fine, 
and  it  was  arranged  that  no  person  should  pay  more  than  one 
dollar.  No  sooner  had  he  come  forth  from  prison  than  his 
fine  was  paid,  and  he  was  placed  in  a  sleigh  and  driven  up 
the  frozen  current  of  Great  Otter  to  Middlebury,  attended, 
it  is  said,  by  an  escort  in  sleighs,  the  train  extending  from  the 
one  town  to  the  other,  a  distance  of  twelve  miles.  With  half 
as  many,  he  might  boast  of  a  greater  following  than  had  passed 
up  the  Indian  Road  under  any  leader  since  the  bloody  days 
of  border  warfare,  when  Waubanakee  chief  or  Canadian  par 
tisan  led  their  marauding  horde  along  the  noble  river."0 

Mr.  Bayard  in  a  spirit  of  folly  and  spleen  offered  a  resolu 
tion  on  Colonel  Lyon's  arrival  at  Philadelphia,  and  reappear 
ance  in  Congress,  expelling  him  from  his  seat.  Forty-nine 
Federalists  voted  for  it,  but  forty-five  Democrats  voted  against 
it,  and  defeated  it  under  the  constitutional  two-thirds  law.  Lyon 
was  back  to  stay,  without  the  leave  of  Bayard  or  Harper  or 
Adams,  or  any  or  all  of  the  Black  Cockades  of  the  President, 
in  or  out  of  Congress. 

On  the  2 ist  of  January,  1801,  during  a  debate  in  the  House 
on  a  resolution  to  continue  in  force  the  sedition  law,  Colonel 
Lyon  made  the  following  remarks :  "  In  the  course  of  the 
debate  on  the  present  motion,  my  condemnation  and  imprison 
ment  have  been  introduced  by  gentlemen  whom  I  highly  re- 

«  "  Vermont— A  Study  of  Independence,"  by  Rowland  E.  Robinson, 
1899,  P.  262. 


THE   HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  381 

spect,  but  without  many  of  the  agitations  which  belonged  to 
that  very  extraordinary  case.  A  number  of  gentlemen  have 
told  the  Committee  that  they  would  avoid  the  discussion  of 
my  case  in  compliment  to  my  feelings — all  of  whom,  except 
the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  have  done  their'  utmost 
to  wound  those  feelings.  But  I  can  tell  those  gentlemen  it 
is  now  too  late;  I  do  not  thank  them  for  their  pretended  ten 
derness;  they  have  heretofore  lacerated  those  feelings  by  their 
irritating  and  abusive  language,  until  I  have  become  perfectly 
callous  to  anything  that  can  come  from  that  quarter.  I  do 
not  think  by  any  means,  that  they  should  go  round  my  case 
out  of  delicacy  to  me — rather  let  them  defend  the  indicting 
me  under  the  sedition  law,  for  writing  and  publishing  a  letter 
dated  the  2Oth  June,  and  sent  about  that  time  by  me  to  the 
post  office  of  Philadelphia,  which  carried  the  postmarks 
of  Philadelphia,  July  7th,  seven  days  before  the  law  passed 
Let  them  defend  the  judge  in  charging  the  jury  to  find  me 
guilty  of  malicious  intentions,  on  the  ground  of  my  own  known 
political  principles;  my  opposition  in  Congress  to  the  Execu 
tive,  where  there  was  no  proof  whatever  against  me  of  such 
principles. 

"Again,  let  those  gentlemen  justify  the  judge  in  sending  a 
man  from  the  jury,  because  a  creature  of  a  party  swore  that, 
at  a  previous  time,  he  had  heard  that  juror  say  something  like 
this:  that  it  was  his  belief  that  Mr.  L.  would  not  be  found 
guilty.  This  was  a  man  who  was  summoned  through  a  mis 
take,  and  it  was  necessary  to  get  rid  of  him  some  way  or  other. 
Let  them  defend  the  conduct  of  the  judge  who,  in  his  charge, 
in  order  to  exasperate  the  jury  against  me,  descended  to  de 
grade  his  office  so  much  as  to  tell  them  I  was  guilty  of  forging 


382  MATTHEW  LYON 

the  writing  called  '  Barlow's  letter.'  '  Let/  said  the  jud.r^, 
'  men  of  letters  read  that  letter  and  compare  it  with  Barlow's 
writings,  and  they  will  pronounce  it  to  be  none  of  his/  Let 
those  gentlemen  defend  the  marshal  in  carrying  me,  in  the 
most  contumelious  and  degrading  manner,  upwards  of  forty 
miles  from  the  door  of  the  jail  of  the  county  where  I  lived, 
which  is  a  jail  of  the  United  States.  Let  them  defend  that 
marshal  for  throwing  me  into  a  stinking  cell  of  about  ten 
feet  by  sixteen,  the  common  receptacle  of  thieves,  murderers 
and  runaway  negroes,  without  anything  to  keep  the  cold  out 
where  the  light  came  in,  and  keeping  me  there  four  months, 
nearly  one  month  of  which  without  fire,  not  having  the  liberty 
to  procure  myself  a  stove,  although  in  a  cold,  inclement  season, 
whilst  the  house  contained  comfortable  rooms  in  plenty,  which 
I  could  have  hired  had  I  been  allowed  to  do  it ;  but  he  refused, 
notwithstanding  my  application  to  him,  and  the  entreaties  of 
several  of  my  friends,  offering  a  security  of  $100,000  bail  for 
my  continuance  in  the  appointed  room  during  the  time  of  my 
confinement. 

"  Unless  gentlemen  can  defend  these  things,  let  them  speak 
no  more  of  the  superiority  of  this  law  over  the  common  law, 
nor  vindicate  it  upon  the  limits  of  its  punishment  being  as 
signed,  the  contrary  of  which  I  think  my  experience  abun 
dantly  proved."0 

a  "  Annals  of  Sixth  Congress,  1799-1801,"  pp.  973,  ft  «<g. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  383 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  ELECTION  OF  JEFFERSON  TO  THE  PRESIDENCY — COALITION 
OF  BURR  AND  THE  FEDERALISTS— FIERCE  PARLIAMENTARY 
STRUGGLE  AND  DEFEAT  OF  THE  FEDERAL  PARTY — LYON'S 
DECISIVE  VOTE — HIS  CELEBRATED  LETTER  TO  EX-PRESIDENT 
ADAMS. 

T  N  a  notice  of  Matthew  Lyon  in  Collins's  "  History  of  Ken 
tucky,"  an  admirable  work,  the  following  observations 
occur:  "Just  before  the  close  of  this  term,  on  February  17, 
1801,  on  the  36th  ballot,  Colonel  Lyon  decided  the  painful  and 
protracted  seven  days'  voting  for  President,  by  casting  his  vote 
and  that  of  Vermont  for  Thomas  Jefferson, — making  him 
President  in  preference  to  Aaron  Burr."a 

It  is  time  to  strip  the  mask  from  those  Federalists  of  1801 
who,  presuming  upon  the  ignorance  of  the  American  people, 
have  claimed  the  credit  to  themselves  for  Jefferson's  election. 
The  romancers  in  history,  like  Hildreth  and  Henry  Cabot 
Lodge,  and  certain  foreign  bookmakers  who  have  galloped 
through  the  country  scribbling  as  they  rode,  select  James  A. 
Bayard  as  the  hero  who  bore  into  the  presidency  upon  his 
broad  shoulders  the  timid,  intriguing,  otherwise  beaten 
Thomas  Jefferson.  And  quite  a  number  of  our  recent  political 
pamphleteers  have  accepted  this  rodomontade  as  sober  truth. 
Mr.  Bayard  hated  Mr.  Jefferson  with  bitter  intensity,  but  it 
never  was  in  his  power,  at  any  period  during  the  fierce  contest, 

Collins's  "  History  of  Kentucky,"  II,  491. 


384  MATTHEW  LYON 

to  defeat  him,  although  he  made  most  strenuous  exertions  to 
accomplish  that  result.  It  is  no  wonder  Benjamin  Watkins 
Leigh,  in  a  moment  of  impatience,  once  inveighed  against  the 
Muse  of  History  as  "  a  lying  old  jade,"  and  advised  people  to 
pay  no  attention  to  what  she  might  record.  In  the  same  vein, 
but  with  more  precision,  the  profound  English  historian,  Dr. 
Lingard,  rejects  what  is  called  the  philosophy  of  history,  and 
more  accurately  describes  it  as  the  philosophy  of  romance. 

The  two  greatest  sinners  in  spreading  abroad  those  fables  in 
relation  to  the  memorable  contest  of  1801,  were  James  A. 
Bayard  and  Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  Relying  upon  the 
bucolic  innocence  of  his  contemporaries,  Mr.  Bayard,  in  1802, 
explained  his  reason  on  the  floor  of  the  House  for  voting  the 
preceding  year  for  Burr  and  against  Jefferson  by  declaring  that 
"  he  gave  his  vote  to  the  one  whom  he  thought  the  greater  and 
better  man."0  And  yet  the  same  Mr.  Bayard  had  written  to 
Alexander  Hamilton  in  1801,  and  said  that  Burr's  talents  were 
of  so  low  an  order  as  to  have  excited  his  contempt  for  what  he 
calls  the  "  unprincipled  man,"  and  he  cited  as  a  proof  of  his 
incapacity, — "  tell  it  not  in  Gath ;  publish  it  not  in  the  streets 
of  Askelon," — Burr's  failure  to  deceive  one  blockhead,  and  to 
buy  two  corruptionists.6  This  was  "  the  greater  and  better 
man  "  than  Jefferson.  Bayard's  deposition  in  the  Gillespie  v. 
Smith  case,  in  1806,  alleges  a  bargain  of  Bayard  with  Jeffer 
son,  which  Jefferson  declared  absolutely  false.  Gen.  Samuel 
Smith,  through  whom  Bayard  said  he  made  the  bargain,  de 
nied  it,  and  sustained  Jefferson's  statement.  Why  did  not  Mr. 
Bayard  vote  for  Jefferson,  if  he  had  a  bargain  or  an  under- 

«  "  Annals  of  Congress  for  1801-2,"  p.  6318. 
»  "  Hamilton's  Works,"  VI,  522. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  385 

standing  with  him?  That  is  the  crucial  question.  Actions  speak 
louder  than  words.  But  Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  who  after 
wards  wrote  a  long  string  of  forcible  feeble  denials  of  the  more 
frank  admissions  made  by  Mr.  Bayard  in  an  unguarded 
moment  just  after  the  close  of  the  contest  in  the  House,  was 
undoubtedly  the  greatest  plotter  of  all  the  Federalists  who  tried 
to  rob  Mr.  Jefferson  of  his  victory,  and  to  seat  a  man  in  the 
presidency  who  had  not  received  a  single  vote  for  that  high 
office.  What  must  be  thought  of  the  unsteadiness  of  purpose 
of  Mr.  Harper  who  wrote  the  letter  quoted  below,  and  then 
voted  in  the  end  a  blank  ballot?  As  soon  as  he  knew  that 
Jefferson  and  Burr  had  won  the  election  over  Adams  and 
Pinckney  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  he  instantly  took  advantage  of  a  clumsy  provision  of 
the  Constitution  which  then  made  the  two  highest  candidates, 
if  they  received,  as  Jefferson  and  Burr  did  receive,  an  equal 
number  of  votes,  both  eligible  to  the  Presidency,  and  threw  the 
election  in  such  a  case  into  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
he  made  stealthy,  desperate  efforts  to  defeat  Jefferson.  Burr 
had  not  received  a  vote  for  the  office,  but  that  clumsy,  blunder 
ing  provision,  which  the  American  people  immediately  after 
sponged  out  of  the  Constitution  with  righteous  indignation, 
gave  Mr.  Harper  his  opportunity,  and  here  is  the  tricky, 
seditious  firebrand  he  forthwith  wrote  to  Aaron  Burr : 

"  Washington,  December  24,  1800. 
My  Dear  Colonel, 

The  votes  of  Tennessee  are  come  in  and  decide  the  tie.  The 
language  of  the  Democrats  is,  that  you  will  yield  your  preten 
sions  to  their  favorite;  and  it  is  whispered  that  overtures  to 


386  MATTHEW  LYON 

this  end  are  to  be,  or  are  made  to  you.  I  advise  you  to  take 
no  step  whatever,  by  which  the  choice  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  can  be  impeded  or  embarrassed.  Keep  the  game 
perfectly  in  your  own  hands,  but  do  not  answer  this  letter,  or 
any  other  that  may  be  written  to  you  by  a  Federal  man,  nor 
write  to  any  of  that  party. 

Your  friend,  sincerely, 

ROBT.  G.  HARPER."* 

Thus  it  appears  that  this  Federalist  did  all  that  was  in  his 
power  to  precipitate  a  contest  which  threatened  the  overthrow 
of  the  Constitution,  and  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  to  be  ac 
companied  very  likely  with  civil  war.  That  these  calamities 
were  invited  by  the  foregoing  letter  is  made  plain  by  the  events 
which  followed.  Mr.  Burr  "  kept  the  game  in  his  own  hands," 
and  the  contest  for  President  kindled  a  flame  of  excitement  and 
uproar  throughout  the  Union  which  but  for  one  State  in  New 
England,  held  steady  and  law  abiding  by  the  iron  will  and  un 
flinching  determination  of  Matthew  Lyon,  most  probably 
would  have  plunged  the  land  in  bloody  civil  war.  Burr 
despatched  his  secret  emissaries  to  Washington,  and  the  Essex 
Junto  and  Southern  doughfaces  joined  them  in  opening  an 
agency  for  the  purchase  of  votes.  Every  appliance  and  blan 
dishment  by  which  cupidity  and  ambition  could  be  assailed 
and  won  over  were  put  into  clandestine  operation.  Hamilton, 
who  deserves  the  greatest  credit  for  his  opposition  to  him,  well 
described  Burr  as  the  Cataline  of  America,  but  so  deftly  did 
Burr  manage  this  conspiracy  to  buy  votes  and  cheat  the  people 
out  of  their  President,  that  to  this  day  when  all  believe  it,  few 

o  "  Niles's  Register,"  January  4,  1823. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  387 

can  satisfactorily  prove  it.  He  was  a  master  at  concealment, 
though  as  Washington  and  Hamilton  had  seen  the  real  man 
through  all  his  arts  at  an  earlier  day,  so  now  Jefferson  took  his 
gauge  and  measure,  and  was  prepared  for  Mr.  Burr  even  when 
he  came  with  a  whole  Congress  of  Federalists  at  his  heels,  buy 
ing,  and  cajoling,  and  seducing  whomsoever  he  found  in  the 
market  for  sale. 

Harper  was  the  mouthpiece  employed  by  the  Federalists  to 
sound  Burr.  The  preceding  letter  makes  that  plain.  But  his 
own  admissions  are  not  wanting  to  prove  it.  "  I  was  present," 
afterwards  said  Mr.  Harper,  "  at  all  the  general  deliberations 
of  the  Federal  members  on  this  momentous  subject,  which 
were  frequent  and  very  anxious.  I  may,  I  think,  safely  say 
that  I  was  as  much  in  the  confidence  of  those  gentlemen,  and 
as  well  acquainted  with  their  private  and  individual  views,  as 
any  other  person.  I  had  a  great  deal  of  full  and  free  com 
munication  with  them,  individually  and  privately,  which  I  have 
every  reason  to  believe  was  frank  and  confidential."*  Harper 
was  a  gentleman,  and  his  word  cannot  be  doubted  on  this  sub 
ject.  Meantime  he  had  married  the  accomplished  daughter  of 
the  richest  man  in  America,  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  and 
the  impetuous  South  Carolina  Federalist  had  become  the  con 
servative  Baltimore  lawyer.  The  Marylanders  previously  had 
been  ruled  by  the  Federalists,  and  Carroll,  Chase  and  Thomas 
did  not  like  Jefferson.  But  they  were  now  thoroughly 
frightened  over  the  impending  loss  of  the  capital  of  the  United 
States,  should  they  persist  in  voting  for  Burr.  Poor  Mr. 
Harper  was  in  a  dilemma.  The  people  of  Maryland  were 

a  Letter  of  Robert  Goodloe  Harner,  in  "  Niles's  Register,"  January 
4,  1823. 


388  MATTHEW   LYON 

sending  in  petitions  signed  by  thousands  of  Federalists,  Demo 
crats,  men  and  women,  everybody,  Eastern  Shore  men,  Balti 
more  men,  Prince  George's  county,  Charles  county,  and  St 
Mary's  county  men,  from  every  district,  urging  the  election  of 
Jefferson.  They  were  rising  en  masse  to  implore  their  foolish 
Federalist  Congressmen  not  to  vote  for  Burr,  as  they  would 
surely  lose  the  Federal  city  by  persisting  in  that  mad  course. 
In  this  awkward  predicament  Harper  finally  deserted  Burr,  and 
put  in  a  blank  vote  on  the  last  ballot. 

Bayard  was  just  as  badly  frightened  as  the  Marylandersy 
since  Delaware  was  threatened  with  the  loss  of  Statehood,  and 
might  yet  become  in  the  event  of  a  dissolution,  what  the 
Philadelphians  insisted  she  was  in  fact,  a  Borough  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  But  Bayard  was  a  more  outspoken  man  than  Harper, 
and  a  few  moments  after  the  last  ballot  was  announced  in  the 
House,  he  sat  down  and  wrote  a  confidential  letter  to  a  friend 
in  Wilmington,  Delaware,  in  which  he  revealed  all  the  secrets 
of  the  Federalists,  said  they  were  bent  on  revolution,  and  would 
rather  go  without  a  government  than  to  vote  for  Jefferson, 
and  told  how  the  result  of  an  election  was  finally  brought 
about  on  the  36th  ballot.a  This  letter  was  probably  not  meant 
for  publication,  and  was  not  published  until  twenty-two  years 
afterwards,  when  Mr.  Harper  and  other  gentlemen  of  the 
beaten  party  found  all  the  plausible  stories  and  explanations 
which  they  had  been  circulating  during  those  many  years,  in 
order  to  molify  the  wrath  of  the  American  people  against  the 
Federalists  of  1801,  suddenly  and  effectually  annihilated  by  the 
unexpected  publication  of  Mr.  Bayard's  tell-tale  letter.  This  let 
ter  clearly  revealed  the  fact  that  the  Federalists  had  lent  them- 

o  "  Niles's  Register,"  November  16,  1822. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  389 

selves  to  a  desperate  scheme  of  making  Burr  President, 
although  he  had  not  received  a  vote  for  that  office.  He  styled 
them  revolutionists,  ready  to  go  without  a  government  rather 
than  to  vote  for  Jefferson,  who,  he  declared,  did  not  receive  a 
single  Federal  vote  during  the  whole  thirty-six  ballots  that  were 
taken  in  the  House.  Harper,  who  for  years  had  been  picturing 
the  old  Essex  Junto  and  the  Connecticut  Blue  Lights  as  saints 
and  sages,  wriggled  and  denied  and  evaded,  but  it  was  of  no 
use,  for  here  was  Mr.  Bayard,  as  if  risen  from  the  dead,  denying 
it  all,  and  depicting  them  as  tools  of  Aaron  Burr,  and  down 
right  revolutionists.  Harper  wrote  a  long,  feeble  apology  for 
"  Niles's  Register/'  minimizing  the  charges  of  Bayard,  and  try 
ing  to  explain  them  away.a  He  seemed  to  have  forgotten  his 
own  letter  to  Burr,  urging  him  to  keep  the  game  in  his  own 
hands,  and  to  observe  a  conspirator's  silence  while  hatching 
schemes  for  capturing  the  succession. 

But  there  were  his  father-in-law,  Charles  Carroll  of  Carroll- 
ton,  and  all  his  fellow  Federalists,  looking  beyond  this  election 
to  the  probable  loss  of  the  District  of  Columbia  as  a  permanent 
seat  of  government.  In  a  letter  to  his  wife,  January  15,  1801, 
Albert  Gallatin  remarks: 

"  Maryland  is  afraid  about  the  fate  of  the  Federal  city,  which 
is  hated  by  every  member  of  Congress  without  exception  of 
persons  or  parties."6  A  French  lady  addicted  to  epigrams, 
who  was  in  the  Federal  city  at  this  period,  observed  that 
"  Georgetown  had  houses  without  streets,  and  Washington 
streets  without  houses."  Congressmen,  according  to  WoLcott, 
had  to  live  "  like  scholars  in  a  college,  or  monks  in  a  monas- 

a  Published  in  "  Niles's  Weekly  Register,"  January  4,  1823. 
b  "  Life  of  Albert  Gallatin,"  by  Henry  Adams,  p.  254. 


390  MATTHEW   LYON 

tery,  crowded  ten  or  twenty  in  one  house."0  Tom  Moore's 
pleasantries  respecting  squares  in  morasses  and  obelisks  in 
trees,  with  Goose  Creek,  and  Tiber,  and  Modern  Rome  galore, 
are  well  remembered.  But  Gouverneur  Morris  was  even  more 
sarcastic  than  the  Irish  bard.  "  We  want  nothing  here,"  wrote 
the  Senator  from  New  York,  "  but  houses,  cellars,  kitchens, 
well  informed  men,  amiable  women,  and  other  little  trifles  of 
this  kind  to  make  our  city  perfect."*  Mrs.  Abigail  Adams  dis 
covered  on  her  arrival,  "  here  and  there  a  small  cot,  without  a 
glass  window,  interspersed  among  the  forests."0  Everybody 
seemed  to  be  anxious  to  get  away  from  "  the  Indian  place  with 
the  long  name  in  the  woods  on  the  Potomac." 

No  wonder  that  the  Marylanders  were  demoralized.  Hav 
ing  won  the  capital  after  a  desperate  struggle,  they  read  its 
doom  in  the  eyes  of  Congressmen,  and  knew,  if  no  President 
was  chosen,  its  loss  was  inevitable.  This  selfish  fear  alone 
made  them  desert  Burr,  although  Jefferson  did  not  get  a  single 
Federal  vote  from  Maryland  throughout  the  contest.  Salutary 
fear  also  disciplined  Mr.  Bayard  in  a  similar  manner.  His 
alarm  for  Delaware,  not  his  patriotism,  as  he  himself  bluntly 
admitted,  controlled  his  final  action.  To  John  Adams  he  thus 
wrote :  "  Representing  the  smallest  State  in  the  Union,  without 
resources  which  could  furnish  the  means  of  self-protection,  I 
was  compelled  by  the  obligation  of  a  sacred  duty,  so  to  act,  as 
not  to  hazard  the  Constitution,  upon  which  the  political  exis 
tence  of  the  State  depends.'"1  That  is,  Delaware  was  threatened 
with  extinction,  and  in  order  to  save  his  little  State,  Bayard, 

•  Gibbs's  "  Administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams,"  II,  239. 
5  Sparks's  "  Life  and  Writings  of  Gouverneur  Morris,"  III,  129. 
0  "  Mrs.  Adams's  Letters,"  II,  239. 
d  Randall's  "  Life  of  Jefferson,"  II,  622. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  3QI 

who  had  voted  thirty-five  times  for  Aaron  Burr,  voted  blank 
on  the  last  ballot.  Is  it  not  sublime  impudence  on  the  part  of 
political  pamphleteers  to  set  up  a  claim  that  James  A.  Bayard 
elected  Jefferson  President?  If  no  President  should  be  chosen 
before  the  4th  of  March,  the  Government  would  be  dissolved. 
A  new  convention  of  the  States  would  next  be  called,  and 
then  a  long  farewell  to  Washington  as  the  Federal  capital. 
Poor  little  Delaware,  shorn  in  such  contingency,  of  her  con 
sequence  in  the  Senate  and  House,  would  probably  become  a 
Borough  of  Pennsylvania.  "  The  very  word  convention," 
wrote  Jefferson  to  Monroe,  "  gives  them  the  horrors."0 

The  preposterous  claim  that  the  Federalists  elected  Jefferson 
should  never  be  advanced  in  any  book  claiming  the  respectable 
title  of  history.  "  He  appears  to  have  been  indebted  to  them," 
says  Dr.  Randall  in  his  "  Life  of  Jefferson,"  "  in  the  same 
manner  and  degree  that  he  who  is  not  blown  up  by  a  mine  on 
which  he  stands,  is  indebted  to  the  forbearance  of  his  foe  who 
could  not  fire  it  without  rendering  himself  the  first  and  certain 
victim."6 

Eight  States  voted  for  Jefferson,  six  for  Burr,  and  two  were 
divided — making  sixteen  States,  the  whole  number.  If  one 
more  vote  came  to  Jefferson,  it  would  be  enough  to  elect. 
From  the  first  we  now  know,  that  Matthew  Lyon  would  give 
that  vote.  Gouverneur  Morris,  Senator  from  New  York,  was 
entirely  opposed  to  the  election  of  a  man  as  President  who  had 
not  received  a  single  vote  of  the  people  for  the  office.  He  was 
the  uncle  of  Lewis  R.  Morris,  the  member  from  Vermont,  who 
divided  the  vote  of  that  State  with  Matthew  Lyon.  The 

«"  Jefferson's  Works,"  IV,  354. 
6  Randall's  "  Jefferson,"  II,  602. 


392  MATTHEW    LYON 

Senator  was  able  to  control  his  nephew's  vote.  Why  then,  it 
may  be  asked,  was  it  cast  thirty-five  times  for  Burr?  The  itch 
for  office  is  the  probable  answer  to  that  question.  Jefferson 
thus  explains  it:  "  February  the  I4th.  General  Armstrong 
tells  me,  that  Gouverneur  Morris,  in  conversation  with  him  to 
day,  on  the  scene  which  is  passing,  expressed  himself  thus: 
'  How  comes  it/  says  he,  *  that  Burr,  who  is  four  hundred  miles 
off,  (at  Albany,)  has  agents  here  at  work  with  great  activity, 
while  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  is  on  the  spot,  does  nothing? '  This 
explains  the  ambiguous  conduct  of  himself  and  his  nephew, 
Lewis  Morris,  and  that  they  were  holding  themselves  free  for  a 
prize;  i.  e.,  some  office  either  to  the  uncle  or  nephew."a 

The  correspondence  of  Senator  Morris  makes  it  clear  that  he 
opposed  Burr.  December  19,  1800,  in  a  letter  to  Hamilton,  he 
said:  "Since  it  was  evidently  the  intention  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  to  make  Mr.  Jefferson  their  President,  it  seems  proper 
to  fulfil  that  intention/'6  February  I,  1801,  he  said,  in  a  letter 
to  Robert  Troup,  speaking  of  the  balloting  of  the  States  in  the 
House:  "  One  is  divided,  and  one  is  doubtful,  that  is  to  say,  it 
will  be  for  Mr.  Jefferson,  or  divided."0  February  20,  1801,  he 
wrote  to  Robert  R.  Livingston,  and  said :  "  I  greatly  dis 
approved,  and  openly  disapproved,  the  attempt  to  choose  Mr. 
Burr."d 

Energetic  efforts  to  capture  the  vote  of  Matthew  Lyon  in  the 
profligate  scramble  were  made.  Jefferson  charges  that 
Bayard  offered  inducements  of  high  office  to  Samuel  Smith  of 
Maryland,  and  tempted  Robert  R.  Livingston  of  New  York. 

o  "  Jefferson's  Works,"  IX,  202-3. 
6  Sparks's  "  Morris,"  III,  132. 
«  Ibid,  150-151. 
<»  Ibid,  154. 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  393 

"  To  Dr.  Linn,"  he  adds,  "  they  have  offered  the  government 
of  New  Jersey.""  Aaron  Burr,  we  learn  on  the  same  high 
authority,  in  conversation  with  Colonel  Hitchburn  of  Massa 
chusetts,  said:  "Why,  our  friends  must  join  the  Federalists, 
and  give  the  President.  '  But/  says  Hitchburn,  '  who  is  to  be 
our  Vice-President? '  Colonel  Burr  answered,  '  Mr.  Jeffer 
son.'  "6  Even  if  they  succeeded  in  getting  all  these  votes,  the 
traffickers  still  needed  Vermont  to  make  the  majority.  They 
might  as  well  have  tried  to  topple  the  highest  peak  of  the 
Green  Mountains  into  Lake  Champlain  as  to  attempt  to  cap 
ture  that  State.  Lyon  was  a  born  fighter  of  corruption  and 
corruptionists. 

I  again  quote  Jefferson.  He  had  invited  Lyon  to  dinner  at 
the  President's  house,  and  makes  this  note  on  one  of  the 
topics  discussed:  "December  the  31,  1803.  After  dinner  to 
day,  the  pamphlet  on  the  conduct  of  Colonel  Burr  being  the 
subject  of  conversation,  Matthew  Lyon  noticed  the  insinua 
tions  against  the  Republicans  at  Washington,  pending  the 
Presidential  election,  and  expressed  his  wish  that  every  thing 
was  spoken  out  that  was  known ;  that  it  would  then  appear  on 
which  side  there  was  a  bidding  for  votes,  and  he  declared  that 
John  Brown  of  Rhode  Island,  urging  him  to  vote  for  Colonel 
Burr,  used  these  words:  '  What  is  it  you  want,  Colonel  Lyon? 
Is  it  office,  is  it  money?  Only  say  what  you  want,  and  you 
shall  have  it.'  "°  But  like  Horatius  at  the  Bridge,  Lyon  stood 
firm,  a  host  in  himself,  until  finally  Representative  Morris, 
nephew  of  the  anti-Burr  Senator,  withdrew  from  the  House, 
and  Lyon  cast  the  vote  of  Vermont  for  Jefferson,  giving  him 

»  "  Jefferson's  Works,"  IX,  202. 
6  Ibid,  204. 
«  Ibid,  204. 


394 


MATTHEW   LYON 


the  ninth  State,  a  majority,  and  electing  him.  "  The  Federal 
ists,"  says  Gallatin,  "  had  but  one  proper  mode  to  pursue,  and 
that  was  for  the  whole  party  to  come  over;  instead  of  which 
they  contrived  merely  to  suffer  Mr.  Jefferson  to  be  chosen, 
without  a  single  man  of  theirs  voting  for  him."0 

In  addition  to  the  fears  of  Bayard  for  his  little  Borough  of 
Delaware,  and  of  the  Marylanders  for  the  Capital,  the  whole 
New  England  delegations  began  to  snuff  danger  to  the  North 
and  South  of  them.  The  two  boldest  Governors  in  America, 
McKean  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Monroe  in  Virginia,  were  arm 
ing,  and  General  Darke's  brigade  at  Harpers  Ferry  was  getting 
ready  to  march  on  Washington,  and  "  know  the  reason  why  " 
Jefferson  should  not  be  President.*  If  any  usurper  had  been 
chosen  by  the  Federal  rump,  he  undoubtedly  would  have  been 
overthrown  by  an  aroused  people.  "  It  was  rumored,"  said 
Albert  Gallatin  in  a  letter  to  Henry  A.  Muhlenberg,  written  so 
late  as  May  8,  1848,  "  and  though  I  did  not  know  it  from  my 
own  knowledge,  I  believe  it  was  true,  that  a  number  of  men 
from  Maryland  and  Virginia,  amounting,  it  was  said,  to  fifteen 
hundred  (a  number  undoubtedly  greatly  exaggerated),  had  de 
termined  to  repair  to  Washington  on  the  4th  of  March  for  the 
purpose  of  putting  to  death  the  usurping,  pretended  Presi 
dent."0  This  of  course  he  only  meant  in  case  the  scheme  had 
been  carried  out. 

All  honor  to  Matthew  Lyon  at  this  great  crisis  of  American 
history.  The  Federalists  under  the  arrogant  orders  of  John 


«"  Life  of  Gallatin,"  p.  263. 

b  Speech  of  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  January  31,  1817;  "Annals  of  the  I4th  Congress,"  pp.  805-806. 
0  "  Life  of  Albert  Gallatin,"  p.  249. 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  395 

Adams  had  thrown  him  into  a  dungeon  to  get  him  out  of  the 
way,  but  they  could  not  keep  him  there,  and  were  now  con 
fronted  with  a  Democratic  State  in  the  hitherto  solid  phalanx 
of  New  England  Federalism,  the  vote  of  which  State  was  at 
last  in  the  keeping  and  custody  of  this  fearless  Democrat.  On 
every  ballot  Vermont  gave  one-half  of  its  vote  for  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  on  the  thirty-sixth  or  last  one  Lyon  prevailed  by 
the  retirement  of  Morris,  and  placed  Vermont  with  Virginia 
on  the  side  of  the  man  who  was  the  people's  choice  for  Presi 
dent.  "  The  public  mind,"  says  the  antiquarian,  Pliny  H. 
White,  "  was  in  the  highest  degree  agitated  with  the  contest. 
The  House  remained  in  session  without  formal  adjournment," 
— {he  might  have  added  that  John  Randolph  charged  Bayard 
with  bringing  about  this  session  or  sitting-  in  the  vain  hope  of 
starving  the  Democrats  into  surrender,)  "  for  seven  successive 
days ;  and  the  excitement  both  in  and  out  of  the  House  rose  to 
such  a  height  as  to  render  it  absolutely  necessary  to  the  public 
welfare  that  the  controversy  should  be  ended  in  one  way  or 
another.  The  Federalists  becoming  convinced  that  it  was  im 
possible  to  elect  Burr,  reluctantly  decided  to  allow  Jefferson  to 
be  chosen.  It  was  arranged  that  Mr.  Morris  should  absent 
himself  from  the  next  balloting,  which  he  accordingly  did,  and 
Lyon  cast  the  vote  of  Vermont  for  Jefferson,  giving  him  the 
ninth  State  that  was  needed  to  secure  his  election.  He  took 
considerable  credit  to  himself  for  his  vote."a  And  well  might 
he  do  so.  Like  those  who  fought  on  Saint  Crispin's  day,  that 
vote  of  patriots  made  them  a  "band  of  brothers."  If  Lyon  lived 
for  a  hundred  years,  never  again  would  it  be  in  his  power  to 

o  "  Life  and  Services  of  Matthew  Lyon,"  an  address  by  Pliny  H. 
White,  p.  23. 


396  MATTHEW  LYON 

render  his  beloved  country  so  signal  a  service.  If  it  were 
needed,  but  it  is  not,  I  might  extend  this  chapter  to  undue 
limits  by  extracts  from  contemporary  opinion,  and  the  writings 
of  others  of  subsequent  periods,  to  prove  that  Lyon  had  routed 
the  Federalists  or  Burrites,  and  made  certain  the  triumph  of 
the  great  apostle  of  Democracy  in  that  epoch-making  struggle 
in  the  House  of  Representatives.  "  Colonel  Matthew  Lyon," 
says  F.  S.  Drake  in  his  instructive  work  commemorative  of  the 
worthies  of  the  Republic,  "  gave  the  vote  that  made  Jefferson 
President."0  "  The  fact,"  says  Charles  Lanman,  private  secre 
tary  and  esteemed  friend  of  Daniel  Webster,  "  of  his  (Lyon) 
giving  the  vote  that  made  Jefferson  President  is  well  known."6 
Colonel  Lyon's  second  term  in  Congress  terminated  at  the 
same  time  with  Mr.  Adams's  term  in  the  Presidency,  which 
circumstance,  and  the  signal  part  he  took  in  the  defeat  of  the 
old  Braintree  statesman,  suggested  to  him  a  valedictory  letter 
that  he  addressed  to  the  ex-President.  I  like  this  letter  as  a 
piece  of  English  composition  better  than  Mr.  Hamilton's  cele 
brated  letter  on  "The  Public  Conduct  and  Character  of  John 
Adams."  It  is  less  studied  and  elaborated,  not  as  smooth  in 
construction,  and  without  Mr.  Hamilton's  rare  skill  as  a  dialec 
tician.  But  its  animus  is  better,  its  motive  less  unjustifiable,  and 
its  satirical  strokes  are  more  spontaneous  and  incisive.  The 
graces  of  the  schools  did  not  belong  to  Lyon  in  nearly  the  same 
degree  as  they  pervaded  the  rhetorical  periods  of  Hamilton, 
but  a  native  wit,  a  genuine  pathos  break  forth  now  and  again 
from  the  less  cultivated  but  hardly  less  vigorous  pen  of  the 
Vermonter  that  are  missing  in  the  statelier  letter  of  the  ex- 

«  "  Dictionary  of  American  Biography,"  p.  571. 
&  "  Dictionary  of  Congress,"  p.  368. 


THE    HAMPDEN    OF    CONGRESS  397 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  I  look  in  vain  in  Hamilton's  cold 
and  rather  stilted  sentences  for  anything  as  pungent  as  Lyon's 
description  of  the  President's  sycophants,  who  "  furnished 
piping  hot  addresses  every  morning  for  breakfast,"  "  studied 
your  palate  and  changed  the  cookery  of  the  dish  oftener  than 
your  kitchen  servants,"  and  the  Dean  Swift-like  sarcasm  of  the 
allusion  to  "Joe  Thomas."  "Your  old  friend,  Joe  Thomas,  I 
am  told,  can  scarcely  find  duds  to  cover  his  nakedness;  I  am 
surprised  you  did  not  make  him  a  judge."  The  account  of  the 
"benevolent  Mr.  Ogden,"  and  the  President's  rudeness  to  him, 
is  in  another  vein,  and  proves  Lyon  an  orator  who  could  lay 
hold  of  the  human  heart  and  touch  its  hidden  springs  with 
natural  eloquence.  The  letter  is  dated  one  minute  after  the 
close  of  the  President's  term  of  ofHce,  and  in  view  of  the  cruel 
treatment  its  author  had  endured  at  the  hands  of  Mr.  Adams, 
and  the  dramatic  ending  of  the  fierce  political  battle  between 
the  two  distinguished  combatants,  I  am  induced  to  reproduce 
it  here  in  full,  as  a  pendant  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson  by 
virtue  of  the  vote  of  the  prisoner  of  Vergennes  jail. 

Letter  from  Matthew  Lyon,  late  Representative  in  Congress 
from  the  State  of  Vermont,  to  Citizen  John  Adams.0 

"  City  of  Washington, 
59  minutes  before  one,  a.  m. 

March  4,  1801. 
Fellow  Citizen: 

Four  years  ago  this  day,  you  became  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  I  a  Representative  of  the  people  in  Congress ;  this 
day  has  brought  us  once  more  on  a  level;  the  acquaintance 

oFrom  the  "Historical  Magazine,"  December,  1873,  vol.  II,  p.  360 
ei  seq. 


398  MATTHEW   LYON 

we  have  had  together  entitles  me  to  the  liberty  I  take,  when 
you  are  going  to  depart  for  Quincy,  by  and  with  the  consent 
and  advice  of  the  good  people  of  the  United  States,  to  bid  you 
a  hearty  farewell.  This  appears  to  me  more  proper,  as  I  am 
going  to  retire,  of  my  own  accord,  to  the  extreme  western 
parts  of  the  United  States,  where  I  had  fixed  myself  an  asylum 
from  the  persecutions  of  a  party,  the  most  base,  cruel,  assum 
ing  and  faithless,  that  ever  disgraced  the  councils  of  any  nation. 
That  party  are  now  happily  humbled  in  "  dust  and  ashes,  before 
the  indignant  frowns  of  an  injured  country,"  but  their  deeds 
never  can  be  forgotten. 

In  this  valedictory,  I  propose,  without  further  ceremony, 
to  bring  to  your  view,  a  retrospect  of  some  part  at  least, 
of  your  public  conduct  during  the  last  four  years.  In 
doing  this,  I  shall  not  trouble  you  or  myself  with 
the  fair  promises  in  your  inauguration  speech,  nor  those 
three  volumes,  in  which  is  displayed  your  love  of  roy 
alty  and  Great  Britain.  Your  early  endeavors  to  in 
volve  this  country  in  an  endless  war,  and  draw  forth  her 
resources  on  the  side  of  monarchy  against  republicanism,  forms 
a  trait  in  your  history  which  much  more  deserves  my  notice. 
Your  first  speech  to  the  Fifth  Congress,  containing  groundless 
insinuations,  that  Charles  C.  Pinckney  was  authorized  to  dis 
cuss  and  investigate  the  demands  of  the  French  nation  for 
redress,  of  what  they  called  grievances,  presaged  with  your 
retirement — and  when  looking  over  that  speech  I  beg  you  to 
reflect  on  the  base  manner  in  which  you  abused  Mr.  Monroe, 
and  the  French  government,  because  he  had,  according  to  his 
instructions,  cultivated  a  good  understanding  with  that  govern 
ment;  and  on  your  childish  nonsense  about  dividing  the  people 
from  the  government.  I  hope,  sir,  you  are  not  past  blushing 
at  what  a  school  boy  would  be  ashamed  of.  The  people  of 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  399 

this  country  can  never  be  divided  from  the  government;  you 
have  brought  yourself  into  hatred  and  contempt  with  them, 
but  they  never  could  be  induced  to  view  you  and  your  execu 
tive  officers  as  the  government.  No!  The  government  they 
love  and  respect,  and  have  accordingly  put  it  into  better  hands. 
You  will  now  have  leisure,  sir,  to  look  over  your  second 
speech  to  the  same  Congress,  when  I  hope  you  will  recollect 
how  you  swelled  and  strutted  when  you  were  abusing  the 
nation  you  were  hyprocritically  pretending  to  make  up  differ 
ences  with. 

Look  at  the  list  of  laws  which  you  sanctioned  that  session, 
giving  new  and  unconstitutional  powers  to  yourself.  You  will 
have  time  to  review  all  the  fulsome  addresses  to  you  from  a 
misguided  multitude ;  I  will  not  pretend  to  describe  the  sensa 
tions  they  will  produce,  when  you  reflect  how  they  buoyed  up 
your  pride,  flattered  your  vanity,  and  persuaded  you  the  day 
was  approaching  and  nigh  at  hand,  when  an  hereditary  crown 
would  be  offered  you.  Read  over  your  answers,  sir,  which 
invoked  more  and  more  addresses,  until  the  whole  store  of 
the  folly  and  sycophancy  of  our  country  became  exhausted. 
Pitiful  indeed  must  be  your  feeling  in  passing  home  through 
the  now  Democratic  State,  New  Jersey,  which  formerly  so 
copiously  furnished  you  with  piping  hot  addresses  every  morn 
ing  for  breakfast;  the  servility  of  a  few  of  their  abandoned 
citizens  studied  your  palate  and  changed  the  cookery  of  the 
dish  oftener  than  your  kitchen  servants.  Should  you  stop  at 
Philadelphia  how  melancholy  must  it  seem  to  you;  McPher- 
son's  band  of  Cockade  boys  are  dispersed  or  grown  up  into 
Democrats,  no  Federal  mobs  there  now  to  sing  Hail  Colum 
bia  and  huzzar  for  John  Adams,  and  terrify  your  opposers. 
Hopkinson's  lyre  is  out  of  tune,  Cobbett  and  Liston  are  gone, 
the  Quakers  are  for  the  living  President,  and  your  old  friend 


400  MATTHEW   LYON 

Joe  Thomas,  I  am  told,  can  scarcely  find  duds  to  cover  his 
nakedness;  I  am  surprised  you  did  not  make  him  a  judge. 

I  beg  pardon  for  the  digression,  but  let  me  advise  you  to 
take  water  at  the  Federal  City,  and  land  at  the  nearest  port 
of  Quincy;  the  condolence  of  your  old  confederates,  all  along 
from  this  to  Quincy,  and  the  silent  contempt  of  the  multitude, 
will  be  too  hard  for  you  to  bear,  so  soon  after  your  fall,  and 
may  deprive  you  of  the  little  reason  you  have  left. 

But  to  return  to  the  review  of  your  administration  as  re 
spects  your  endeavors  to  plunge  the  nation  into  all  the  horrors 
of  war,  after  you  found  that  the  X,  Y  and  Z  fabrications  did 
not  blind  the  people  sufficiently  to  their  own  interests,  and 
after  you  found  France  would  not  be  provoked  by  you  to  a 
declaration  of  war;  that  they  had  prudently  overlooked  all  your 
bullying  rhapsodies,  and  offered  to  meet  you  in  the  work  of 
reconciliation,  on  the  terms  yourself  had  proposed,  you  in 
sulted  the  patience  and  good  sense  of  the  American  people, 
by  withholding  the  public  communication  nearly  throughout 
a  whole  session  of  Congress,  and  then  after  some  of  your  ter 
giversations,  put  the  business  of  negotiation  in  such  a  train, 
as  has  kept  this  country  more  than  two  years  longer  in  a 
state  of  half  war  which  has  destroyed  some  of  the  most  valu 
able  branches  of  her  commerce,  and  left  the  stable  and  essen 
tial  article  of  tobacco  in  the  hands  of  the  planter,  or  obliged 
him  to  sell  it  at  one-third  of  its  real  value  to  British  specu 
lators,  who  have  five-folded  the  price  to  the  French. 

You  came  to  the  administration,  sir,  under  the  most 
favorable  auspices  at  the  time  when  if  there  were  parties  in 
this  country,  they  were  by  no  means  hostile  to  each  other; 
when  the  increasing  revenue  was  sinking  the  public  debt ;  when 
the  Federal  judiciary  held  a  share  of  popularity  in  this  country, 
and  were  regarded  with  respect;  when  the  contributions 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  4OI 

toward  the  public  expense  sat  tolerably  easy  on  the  people, 
when  this  country  was  considered  as  an  asylum  for  the  op 
pressed  of  all  nations,  and  there  was  a  great  influx  of  foreign 
riches,  industry  and  ingenuity;  when  this  country  was  happy 
in  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press;  when  the  Consti 
tution  was  considered  a  barrier  against  legislative,  executive 
and  judicial  encroachments,  and  before  the  people  were  divided 
into  castes  of  gentlemen  and  simple  men ;  before  offices,  places 
and  contracts,  were  considered  as  the  exclusive  right  of  the 
favorite  caste.  Reflect  a  little,  sir,  and  see  this  awful  change 
made  in  four  short  years.  I  will  give  you  a  slight  view  of  it. 
You  commenced  your  career,  sir,  by  professions  which  prom 
ised  to  unite  all  honest  men  to  you,  but  they  were  mere  pro 
fessions;  your  mad  zeal  for  monarchy  and  Britain,  your  love 
of  pomp,  your  unhappy  selection  of  favorites,  your  regard- 
lessness  of  the  public  treasure,  the  hard  earnings  of  your 
fellow  citizens,  has  divided  the  people  into  parties  and  fostered 
among  them  envy,  malice  and  rancorous  hatred  towards  each 
other;  father  has  been  set  against  son,  and  son  against  father, 
brother  against  brother,  neighbors  and  friends  have  lost  their 
former  relish  for  the  social  enjoyments. 

Under  your  administration,  sir,  a  system  of  appointments 
has  been  established  by  which  implicit  faith  in  your  infalli 
bility  and  a  knack  of  discoloring  the  truth  became  the  only 
qualification  to  office,  or  to  entitle  a  person  to  a  contract. 

Under  your  administration,  sir,  useless  and  expensive  em 
bassies  have  prevailed  to  an  alarming  degree.  Offices  and 
officers,  almost  without  number,  have  been  created  and  ap 
pointed,  all  out  of  the  favored  caste;  while  merit  and  abilities 
have  been  disregarded;  capable,  discerning  and  popular  men 
have,  by  you  and  your  minions,  been  discharged  from  the 
service  of  their  country,  without  being  vouchsafed  a  reason 


4O2  MATTHEW  LYON 

for  their  degradation.  Your  administration,  sir,  has  been 
famous  for  contracts;  there  is  not  a  doubt  but  in  future  the 
secret  records  of  your  Navy  Office  will  be  studied  by  your 
friend  Wm.  Pitt,  and  those  he  wishes  to  give  favorite  contracts 
tos;  there  the  oldest  and  the  wickedest  British  speculators  may 
learn  new  modes  of  managing  advantageously  about  contracts. 

The  judiciary,  sir,  under  your  untoward  administration,  have 
made  alarming  encroachments  on  the  rights  of  man ;  they  have 
adopted  the  British  maxim  of  non-expatriation,  in  the  face 
of  every  principle  heretofore  held  dear  in  this  country,  and 
in  contradiction  to  many  of  the  State  Constitutions.  They 
have  been  endeavoring  to  introduce  the  crude,  cruel,  undi 
gested,  inapt  and  obsolete  system  of  the  common  law  into 
our  national  jurisprudence;  and  they  have,  in  defiance  of  the 
express  prohibition  in  the  Constitution  made  pass  for  treason, 
a  crime  defined  in  laws  by  another  name,  and  there  decreed 
to  be  punished  by  fine  and  imprisonment.  Your  conscience 
recoiled  at  this ;  it  seems  you  were  not  prepared  for  everything. 
Your  old  friend  Hamilton  abuses  you  for  the  only  good  thing 
you  ever  did  in  your  life;  he  ought  to  have  excused  you,  and 
recollected  how  your  imagination  had  been  tortured  by  the 
ghost  of  Jonathan  Robbins.  Your  confederate  in  that  case, 
Judge  Bee,  it  seems  you  have  provided  well  for  in  this  world, 
but  there  is  another  world,  to  which  you  have  sent  poor 
Jonathan,  where  you  must  both  meet  him.  May  you  by  sin 
cere  repentance  be  prepared  for  that  awful  meeting. 

Under  your  administration,  sir,  and  with  your  consent,  your 
fellow-citizens  have  had  a  heavy  addition  to  the  tax  on  salt; 
their  houses  and  lands  have  been  subjected  to  an  unprece 
dented  tax;  a  tax  on  licenses  for  selling  the  liquor  but  just 
before  taxed;  as  well  as  an  odious  tax  on  paper,  parchment 
and  vellum  has  been  instituted;  and  the  taxes  on  some  other 


THE  HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  403 

articles  of  consumption  have  been  raised.  These  heavy  and 
additional  contributions  have  not  sufficed  you  to  have  the 
command  and  disposition  of:  No.  Many  millions  have  been 
borrowed  at  an  enormous  interest,  to  satiate  the  appetites  of 
the  greedy  courtiers  for  which  the  future  earnings  of  your 
fellow-citizens  stand  pledged. 

An  -Alien  Law,  sir,  bears  your  signature,  which  unconstitu 
tionally  subjected  to  your  sovereign  will  the  liberty  and  banish 
ment  of  every  alien,  whatever  might  be  his  connections  in, 
and  attachment  to  this  country;  and  the  terms  of  citizenship 
have  been  rendered  almost  inaccessible,  by  which  the  best 
disposed  and  the  most  able  and  useful  emigrants  have  been 
deterred  from  coming  to  this  country;  and  many  have  been 
obliged  to  fly  from  your  vindictive  wrath. 

Perhaps  in  no  one  instance  has  our  Constitution,  our  sacred 
bill  of  rights,  been  more  shamefully,  more  barefacedly  tram 
pled  on,  than  in  the  case  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  called  the 
Sedition  Law.  This,  sir,  was  your  darling  hobby  horse.  By 
this  law  you  expected  to  have  all  your  follies,  your  absurdities, 
and  your  atrocities  buried  in  oblivion.  You  thought  by  its 
terrors  to  shut  the  mouths  of  all  but  sycophants  and  flatterers, 
and  to  secure  yourself  in  the  Presidency  at  least;  but  how 
happily  have  you  been  disappointed, — the  truth  has  issued 
from  many  a  patriot  pen  and  press, — and  you  have  fallen, 
never,  never  to  rise  again. 

It  has  availed  you  little,  sir,  to  have  me  fined  $1,000,  and 
imprisoned  four  months  for  declaring  truth  long  before  the 
Sedition  Law  was  passed;  to  have  Holt  and  Haswell  fined  $200 
and  imprisoned  two  months  each;  the  one  for  calling  the 
late  disbanded  army  a  standing  army,  and  the  other  for  pub 
lishing  the  sentiments  of  your  Secretary  of  War,  in  his  letter 
to  General  Darke;  to  have  Cooper  fined  $400  and  imprisoned 


404  MATTHEW   LYON 

six  months,  because  he  resented  your  publishing  his  con 
fidential  application  to  you  for  an  office  he  was  truly  worthy 
of.  You  complained  of  the  breach  of  confidence  in  the  case 
of  Tench  Coxe,  but  you  had  forgot  your  perfidy  to  Cooper. 
Those  attempts  to  stifle  an  investigation  of  your  conduct  only 
accelerated  your  fall.  When  you  have  read  thus  far  you 
cannot  but  recollect  the  benevolent  Mr.  Ogden,  and  your  rude 
ness  to  him,  that  man  who  had  formerly  been  your  panegyrist, 
and  who  possessed  as  great  a  share  of  the  milk  of  human 
kindness  as  ever  filled  the  breast  of  man,  who  took  a  journey  of 
400  miles  through  the  Northern  regions,  to  carry  the  petitions 
of  the  Vermonters  for  their  Representative,  and  to  try  his 
powers  of  persuasion  on  Mr.  Adams.  Mercy  for  his  favorite 
friend  was  to  be  his  theme.  I  told  Mr.  Ogden  that  you  were 
vindictive  and  revengeful,  and  that  he  would  be  disappointed. 
His  good  nature  would  not  suffer  him  to  believe  me.  He 
tried  the  experiment;  he  failed;  but  how  cruel  was  it  of  you, 
sir,  to  add  insult  to  unkindness.  After  your  refusing  to  comply 
with  his  request,  he  said  you  could  not  let  him  go  without 
morosely  telling  him  that  you  supposed  it  was  in  his  behalf 
you  had  been  solicited  for  an  office  in  the  Customs  in  Connec 
ticut,  and  that  his  interference  in  behalf  of  Colonel  Lyon  had 
put  it  out  of  your  power  to  do  him  any  favor.  Cruel  indeed! 
It  was  enough  to  disappoint  his  expectations  of  flying  to  his 
imprisoned  friend  with  the  joyful  news  of  his  enlargement. 
It  was  too  much  to  tell  him  his  own  hopes  were  all  blasted; 
it  broke  his  heart.  Sir,  he  had  not  hoped  so  much  on  his 
own  account  as  on  account  of  the  aged,  unprovided  widow  of 
General  Wooster  who  would  have  shared  with  him  the  emolu 
ments.  That  office,  I  understand,  was  among  the  sacrifices 
your  old  friend,  the  General,  made  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Revolutionary  war.  But,  sir,  the  good  Mr.  Ogden  wants 


THE   HAMPDEN   OF   CONGRESS  405 

no  place  now  from  you  or  any  other  earthly  potentate.  He 
has  got  a  place  in  Abraham's  bosom,  and  he  no  doubt  looks 
down  from  heaven  on  you  with  ineffable  pity  and  tender  com 
passion. 

It  is  a  long  time,  sir,  since  I  have  intended  myself  the  honor 
of  at  this  time  writing  you  a  valedictory.  I  have,  however, 
put  it  off  from  time  to  time,  as  we  are  apt  to  do  about  things 
that  concern  others  more  than  they  do  ourselves.  Inevitable 
business  has  caused  me  to  neglect  this  duty  until  the  last 
moment,  when  I  have  been  obliged  to  hurry  the  thing  over 
much  against  my  inclination.  You  will  be  kind  enough  to 
pardon  the  many  essential  omissions  I  have  necessarily  been 
guilty  of.  There  is  no  doubt  but  by  the  time  you  read  thus 
far  your  conscience,  seated  as  it  is,  will  be  ready  to  supply 
many  of  the  defects  of  my  memory. 

I  must  finish  my  letter,  sir,  where  you  finish  your  adminis 
tration,  that  is  with  your  late  nominations.  I  have  been  told, 
sir,  that  you  have  given  one  Secretaryship  and  four  Judgeships 
for  laying  the  ghost  of  Jonathan  Robbins,  besides  Judge  Bee's 
appointment;  or,  in  other  words,  you  give  as  a  premium  to 
the  man  who  made  the  most  learned  and  perplexing  speech 
in  your  favor,  the  Secretaryship.  It  is  a  maxim  with  the 
lawyers  and  popish  priests,  I  believe,  that  the  greater  the  vil 
lainy  to  be  exculpated  from,  the  greater  the  fee. 

The  Secretaryship  became  precarious,  the  service  rendered 
was  great  indeed,  and  not  to  be  forgotten.  The  judiciary  was 
the  only  permanent  fund  to  be  applied  to,  and  so  long  as  there 
was  a  brother  or  a  sister  to  make  claim,  they,  it  seems,  have 
been  ordered  to  .draw  upon  it  until  all  were  satisfied.  The 
same  fund  has  served  you  an  excellent  purpose  for  legacies 
to  your  poor  and  distant  relatives,  as  well  as  for  rewarding 
the  tories  who  have  been  the  firmest  friends  to  your  adminis- 


406  MATTHEW   LYON 

tration.  Through  the  whole  of  your  late  nominations  you 
have  proceeded,  sir,  as  if  you  took  counsel  from  the  infernal 
regions.  Some  men,  (who  are  not  thought  very  highly  of 
either,)  have  spurned  your  nominations  avowedly  to  avoid  the 
disgrace  they  confer. 

I  am  told,  sir,  that  when  you  was  Vice-President  you 
boasted  that  for  the  casting  vote  upon  Mr.  Madison's  propo 
sitions  you  would  not  take  ten  thousand  pounds.  By  your 
administration  you  have  rendered  that  vote  fatal  to  your  coun 
try,  and  made  it  cost  them  millions.  You  seem  now  more 
than  ever  bent  on  mischief.  Your  vindictive  spirit  prompts 
you  to  do  everything  in  your  power  to  give  the  succeeding 
administration  trouble;  but  you  are  as  unfortunate  in  this  as 
in  most  of  your  calculations.  Your  creatures  are  generally 
pliant  reeds;  they  will  bend  to  and  fawn  upon  anybody  that  is 
in  power.  It  was  power  they  worshipped  in  you,  not  John 
Adams. 

Come,  pray  sir,  cool  yourself  a  little.  Do  not  coil  round 
like  the  rattlesnake,  and  bite  yourself.  No,  betake  »yourself  to 
fasting  and  prayer  awhile.  It  may  be  good  for  both  body 
and  soul.  That  is  a  safer  remedy  for  an  old  man  in  your 
situation  than  the  letting  of  blood. 

Suffer  me  to  recommend  to  you  that  patience  and  resig 
nation  which  is  characteristic  of  the  holy  religion  you  profess. 
I  hope  and  pray  that  your  fate  may  be  a  warning  to  all 
usurpers  and  tyrants,  and  that  you  may,  before  you  leave  this 
world,  become  a  true  and  sincere  penitent,  and  be  forgiven 
all  your  manifold  sins  in  the  next.  I  repeat  it,  this  is  the 
sincere  wish  and  prayer  of  your  fellow-citizen, 

M.  LYON." 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  407 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

WESTWARD  HO! — FOUNDS  EDDYVILLE,  KY. — COL.  LYON'S  SON 
CHITTENDEN — OTHER  DESCENDANTS — SCHOOLS  OF  JEFFER 
SON  AND  MARSHALL — LYON's  RETURN  TO  CONGRESS — LEAD 
ING  POSITION — VIOLENT  PERSONALITIES  BETWEEN  JOHN 
RANDOLPH  AND  COL.  LYON — AARON  BURR — GERMS  OF  PRO 
TECTIVE  SYSTEM — LYON  OPPOSES  EMBARGO  AND  CONGRES 
SIONAL  CAUCUS  TO  NOMINATE  PRESIDENT — IN  RETIREMENT 

FACTOR  TO    THE   CHEROKEE   NATION — RE-ELECTED   TO    CON 
GRESS  FROM   ARKANSAS HIS  DEATH  AT  SPADRA  BLUFF. 

T  N  his  letter  to  ex-President  Adams,  Colonel  Lyon  an 
nounces  his  intention  of  removing  from  Vermont 
to  the  far  Southwest.  Governor  Chittenden,  his  father- 
in-law,  General  Ethan  Allen,  his  old  commander  in  arms  and 
family  connection,  and  most  of  his  intimate  Revolutionary  as 
sociates  among  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  had  passed  to  their 
eternal  reward.  The  John  Adams  or  Chipman  party  had  sub 
jected  Colonel  Lyon  to  such  persecutions  during  the  alien  and 
sedition  reign  of  terror,  and  were  still  besetting  his  path  with 
so  many  petty  annoyances,  that  he  determined  to  leave  the 
beloved  State  to  the  service  of  which  he  had  given  the  best 
years  of  his  life.  His  departure  was  a  notable  event  in  the 
history  of  Fair  Haven.  The  people  gathered  in  sorrow  to 
say  farewell  to  the  founder  and  father  of  the  town.  Among 
them  was  a  youth  who  was  so  deeply  impressed  with  the 
scene  that  he  was  able  seventy  years  afterwards  to  recall  in 


408  MATTHEW  LYON 

a  letter  to  the  author  of  the  History  of  Fair  Haven  the  white 
canvassed  caravan  of  Matthew  Lyon  as  it  wound  its  way 
along  Poultney  river  on  the  long  journey  to  the  more  primi 
tive  settlement  in  the  forests  of  Kentucky.  This  was  the 
venerable  Rev.  N.  S.  S.  Beaman,  D.  D.  In  a  letter,  written 
when  he  was  84  years  of  age,  the  Reverend  Doctor  says:  "  I 
knew  Col.  Matthew  Lyon,  and  when  I  was  quite  a  small  lad 
I  was  intimately  acquainted  with  his  family,  especially  with 
one  of  his  sons,  Chittenden,  named,  I  suppose,  from  Governor 
Chittenden.  We  all  familiarly  called  him  '  Chit.'  He  was  a 
bright  boy,  but  inflammable  and  impulsive  as  a  torpedo  or 
a  witch  quill.  I  came  very  near  becoming  involved  in  an 
Irish  row  with  him  because  I  modestly  declined  pledging  him 
in  a  '  brandy  smash/  in  improved  modern  parlance,  then  called 
a  *  brandy  sling/  which  he  had  paid  as  one  of  the  heads  of 
opposite  parties  in  a  game  of  base  ball. 

"  Of  the  other  children  of  Colonel  Lyon  I  knew  less  than 
of  '  Chit/  because  we  were  about  of  the  same  age,  he  being 
less  than  one  year  older  than  myself.  The  family  removed 
to  Kentucky,  then  known  as  '  the  new  State.'  I  well  remem 
ber  watching  the  emigrant  wagons,  as  they  passed  through 
Hampton,  making  a  fine  display  of  their  imposing  white  can 
vas,  proclaiming  their  departure  to  the  great  unknown  South 
west.  It  was  a  thing  to  be  remembered  and  talked  about. 

"  Colonel  Lyon's  wife  was  highly  spoken  of,  and  they  had 
one  daughter  famed  for  personal  beauty  and  many  accom 
plishments.  My  impression  is  that  she  and  others  died  soon 
after  arriving  in  Kentucky.  Colonel  Lyon  was  a  member  of. 
Congress  from  Vermont,  and  was  re-elected  from;  his  new 
residence.  He  was  a  native  of  the  Green  Isle  of  the  ocean, 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  409 

and  possessed  all  the  qualities  of  his  race.  He  had  talents,  but 
they  were  rough  and  unhewed  from  the  quarry,  and  would 
have  appeared  more  comely  in  the  eyes  of  most  men  if  he  had 
been  subjected  to  the  polish  of  the  chisel/'0 

The  Federalists  had  created  a  public  opinion  that  Matthew 
Lyonwas,as  this  reverend  writer  calls  it,  "rough  and  unhewed," 
but  those  who  knew  him  better  appreciated  his  strokes  more 
than  those  of  commonplace  college  bred  men,  no  matter  how 
much  polished  by  the  chisel.  The  distance  between  medi 
ocrity  and  genius  is  immeasurable.  The  man  against  whom 
John  Adams  staked  and  lost  the  whole  power  of  his  adminis 
tration  had  achieved  his  victory  largely  by  his  pen.  The 
eloquence  which,  according  to  Thompson,  electrified  the  Ok} 
Council  of  Safety  and  carried  through  Ira  Allen's  bill  of  con^ 
fiscation  against  the  Tories;  which  rebuked  the  insolence  ol 
a  Connecticut  Congressman  in  the  debate  on  the  motion  to 
excuse  Lyon  from  attendance  in  the  procession  that  packed 
through  the  streets  to  answer  the  President's  speech,  and 
made  that  Puritan  gentleman's  appeal — Allen,  I  think,  was  his 
name — to  "  high  blood  "  and  "  American  accent  "  the  occasion 
for  the  repudiation  of  Salem  witchcraft,  New  Haven  blue  laws, 
and  "  Cromwell's  bastards,"  very  clearly  proved  that  Matthew 
Lyon's  tongue  was  as  ready  as  his  pen,  and  as  fearless  and 
tripping  as  the  best  of  them.  At  a  scolding  match  he  did 
not  lower  his  colors  even  before  the  Ithuriel  spear  of  John 
Randolph  himself.  But  Dr.  Beaman's  description  of  the  emi 
grant  train  is  interesting  as  the  testimony  of  an  eye  witness. 
Colonel  Lyon  was  in  his  element  as  a  pioneer.  Daniel  Boone 

«  "  History  of  Fair  Haven,  Vermont,"  by  Andrew  N.  Adams,  pp. 
273-274- 


MATTHEW  LYON 

was  not  more  at  home  than  he  in  the  primeval  forest,  the  vast 
wilderness,  the  frontier  line  just  beyond  the  outskirts  and 
haunts  of  civilization.  I  have  often  followed  in  fancy  the 
Colonel  on  his  long  journey  from  Vermont  to  Kentucky. 
Leading  his  numerous  retinue  across  the  mountains  of  Penn 
sylvania,  thence  the  following  spring  embarking  with  them 
down  the  Ohio  and  up  the  Cumberland  to  Eddyville,  this 
pioneer  it  seems  to  me  may  have  been  in  the  mind  of  Leutze 
when  he  depicted  just  such  a  scene  on  canvas.  The  visitor 
to  the  National  Capitol  has  perhaps  paused  before  Leutze's 
picture  of  "  Westward  Ho,"  hung  upon  one  of  the  landings 
of  a  staircase  approach  to  the  gallery  of  Congress.  The 
pioneer  has  reached  a  mountain  summit  and  gazes  enraptured 
on  the  promised  land  to  the  west.  As  he  scales  the  rugged 
eminence  his  animated  spirit  seems  to  infuse  new  life  into 
the  wearied  emigrants,  and  suggests  appropriately  the  strug 
gles  and  hopes  of  that  hardy  race  of  American  pioneers  with 
which  the  great  West  has  been  populated.  Never  has  one 
set  out  who  carried  with  him  more  of  the  founder's  soul  of 
pious  Aeneas  than  Matthew  Lyon  on  his  way  to  establish  the 
town  of  Eddyville,  Kentucky. 

After  Nashville  and  Clarksville,  this  town  became  the 
busiest  emporium  of  trade  on  the  Cumberland  river.  It  so 
continued  until  the  dawn  of  the  railroad  era.  The  mammoth 
steamers  plying  between  New  Orleans  and  Nashville  made 
Eddyville  a  principal  landing  place.  There  came  for  ship 
ment  the  teeming  products  of  the  rich  back  counties  of  Chris 
tian,  Caldwell,  Hopkins  and  other  counties  of  that  fertile 
region,  their  tobacco  and  corn  and  fat  cattle  crowding  the 
busy  wharves  and  occupying  days  in  loading,  while  one  round 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  411 

of  festivities  after  another  in  the  spacious  saloons  of  the 
steamers  made  a  very  fairy  land  of  those  floating  palaces. 
Steamboat  officers  on  the  Mississippi  and  Western  rivers  were 
a  race  apart  of  right  royal  entertainers. 

After  the  adjournment  of  Congress  in  1801  Colonel  Lyon 
passed  some  weeks  in  Virginia  at  the  country  seat  of  his  friend 
General  Mason,  and  continuing  his  trip  made  a  prospecting 
tour  through  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee  and  the 
Northwest.  He  stopped  for  some  time  at  the  Hermitage  with 
his  friend,  General  Andrew  Jackson,  and  it  is  said  that  it  was 
by  his  advice  he  was  influenced  in  the  selection  of  his  future 
home.  Mrs.  Roe  informed  me  that  in  her  childhood  she 
frequently  saw  General  Jackson  when  he  visited  her  father's 
house  at  Eddyville,  and  Mr.  L.  E.  Chittenden  of  New  York, 
former  Register  of  the  Treasury  in  the  days  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  stated  in  a  letter  to  me  in  1883  that  it  was  largely  due 
to  Andrew  Jackson  that  Matthew  Lyon  emigrated  from  Ver 
mont  to  Kentucky.  Hildreth,  in  his  "  History  of  the  United 
States,"  has  several  references  to  the  intimacy  between  the 
two  famous  men.  A  few  years  later  when  Aaron  Burr  was 
plunging  into  treason,  it  was  in  Colonel  Lyon's  power,  and 
he  spared  no  efforts  to  break  the  spell  of  Jackson's  infatuation 
for  that  strange  and  magnetic  plotter  whom  Hamilton  truth 
fully  described  as  the  American  Cataline. 

I  must  make  a  farewell  quotation  here  from  a  writer  whom 
I  have  had  frequent  occasion  throughout  these  pages  to  men 
tion,  Rev.  Pliny  H.  White.  This  gentleman's  accuracy  as  a 
chronicler  I  have  always  admired,  and  his  conception  of  the 
character  of  Matthew  Lyon  is  in  the  main  correct,  although 
his  want  of  acquaintance  with  facts  and  particulars  in  Lyon's 


412  MATTHEW   LYON 

early  life  somewhat  detracts  from  his  biographical  address 
upon  him  before  the  Vermont  Historical  Society.  Referring 
to  Lyon's  departure  from  Vermont,  Mr.  White  says :  "  He 
made  a  tour  to  the  West  and  South  in  search  of  a  new  home, 
passing  through  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  the  North 
west  territory,  and  everywhere  receiving  marked  civilities, 
public  and  private.  He  selected  what  is  now  Eddyville,  in 
Lyon  county,  Kentucky,  as  the  place  of  his  future  residence. 
Here  he  removed  a  part  of  his  family  with  some  other  Ver 
mont  families,  which  he  had  persuaded  to  emigrate,  and  com 
menced  building  the  town,  which  having  fairly  started,  he 
brought  out  the  rest  of  his  family  and  a  number  of  other 
families."0 

The  first  contingent,  besides  artisans,  to  arrive  in  Kentucky 
of  the  Lyon  colony  was  chiefly  made  up  of  the  members  of 
the  family  by  his  first  marriage,  James  Lyon,  his  two  married 
daughters  with  their  husbands,  John  Messenger  and  Dr. 
George  Cadwell  and  their  families,  and  Loraine,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  his  first  wife,  or  Laura,  as  Mrs.  Roe  calls  her  in 
the  volume  entitled  "  Aunt  Leanna,  or  Early  Scenes  in  Ken- 
tncky."  Colonel  Lyon  returned  to  the  East  and  removed 
the  other  members  of  his  family  to  Kentucky,  consisting  of 
his  second  wife,  daughter  of  Governor  Chittenden,  and  her 
young  children,  and  several  other  Vermont  families,  deter 
mined  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  Lyon  in  the  new  country.  The 
beautiful  young  Loraine,  favorite  child  of  Colonel  Lyon  and 
grand  niece  of  Ethan  Allen,  after  whose  daughter  she  took 
her  name,  fell  sick  soon  after  her  arrival  at  Eddyville,  and 


o  Address  of  Rev.  Pliny  H.  White  on  the  "  Life  and  Services  of 
Matthew  Lyon." 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  413 

died  during  her  father's  absence  in  the  East.  This  was  the 
first  death  among  these  settlers  that  occurred  in  Kentucky. 
Mrs.  Roe,  in  the  book  mentioned,  gives  an  interesting  narra 
tive  of  the  expedition  in  which  so  many  Vermonters  accom 
panied  her  father  to  the  Southwest.  Many  of  his  friends  at 
Fair  Haven  asked  him  to  take  them  in  his  train.  After  duly 
considering  the  project,  and  his  means  of  carrying  it  out, 
Colonel  Lyon  assembled  his  Fair  Haven  neighbors  around 
him,  and  laid  before  them  an  outline  of  his  plans.  I  subjoin 
from  his  daughter's  book,  Mrs.  Roe,  the  following  interesting 
particulars:  "  Our  pioneer  looked  upon  them  with  feelings 
he  dared  scarce  to  express.  At  length,  after  weighing  and 
considering  the  matter  in  his  own  mind,  and  examining  his 
purse,  he  made  them  the  following  proposition:  That  he 
would  take  as  many  mechanics  as  would  go  with  him,  with 
their  families,  defray  their  expenses  on  the  journey,  and  deed 
them  a  home  on  their  arrival;  and  they  should  work  for  him 
at  a  reasonable  compensation,  until  they  paid  him  for  the 
same.  In  consideration  of  these  inducements  ten  families  con 
cluded  to  go  with  him,  and  seek  their  fortunes  in  the  far- 
famed  West.  Accordingly  arrangements  were  made,  and  they 
bid  farewell  to  the  land  of  steady  habits  and  all  that  was  dear 
to  their  hearts  there,  and  started  for  their  new  home  in  the 
romantic  wilds  of  Kentucky.  They  traveled  as  far  as  Pitts 
burgh  that  fall  (1799),  and  there  remained  through  the  winter. 
The  mechanics  were  employed  during  the  winter  in  construct 
ing  flat-boats."a  Mrs.  Roe  next  conducts  the  emigrants  down 
the  Ohio,  and  thus  continues: 

o  "  Aunt  Leanna,  or  Early  Scenes  in  Kentucky/'  pp.  17-18,  by  Mrs. 
Eliza  A,  Roe,  Chicago,  1855. 


414  MATTHEW  LYON 

"  One  pleasant  morning  about  the  1st  of  July  1800,  as  the 
Colonel  was  promenading  the  deck,  he  said:  '  Madam  Lyon/ 
(this  was  his  customary  manner  of  addressing  his  wife)  '  if  you 
will  come  this  way  I  will  show  you  the  first  sign  of  our  new 
home.  Do  you  see  those  bluffs  in  the  distance? '  '  I  do/ 
said  she.  'Well,  at  the  foot  of  those,  in  a  beautiful  bottom 
or  valley,  our  Western  home  is  situated.  .  .  .  There,  there/ 
added  the  Colonel,  '  I  see  the  large  sycamore  tree  that  stands 
on  the  banks  just  where  we  must  land.  Boys,  we  will  give 
them  a  few  guns  to  let  them  know  we  are  coming/  The  gun 
they  had  with  them  was  a  small  cannon — one  that  was  used  in 
the  Revolutionary  war — the  report  of  which  had  brought  to 
the  bank  of  the  river  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  settlement. 

"'It  is  they!  It  is  they!'  said  Mrs.  Messenger,  who  was 
the  Colonel's  oldest  daughter.  '  It  is  just  like  father  to  fire 
those  guns/ 

" '  It  is  they  without  doubt/  said  Mrs.  Cadwell,  '  and  who 
shall  break  to  them  the  sad  intelligence  of  the  death  of  dear 
Laura? '  '  I  cannot/  said  Mrs.  Messenger  and  Mrs.  Cadwell, 
both  at  the  same  moment. 

" '  I  will  save  you  both  the  painful  task/  said  Dr.  Cadwell, 
who  was  the  husband  of  the  second  daughter,  and  Laura's 
physician." 

Colonel  Lyon  and  his  wife,  when  they  landed,  were  taken 
aside  by  Dr.  Cadwell,  who  in  as  gentle  a  manner  as  he  could 
employ  broke  the  sad  news  to  them.  The  death  of  his  beauti 
ful  daughter  pierced  as  with  a  sword  the  heart  of  the  grief- 
stricken  Colonel.  "After  a  visit  to  Laura's  grave,"  says  Mrs. 
Roe,  "they  became  composed  and  began  to  think  of  the 
future."0 

a/W.,  p.  23,*  *ff. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  41$ 

Dr.  Cadwell  and  Mr.  Messenger  remained  in  Kentucky  only 
a  few  years.  They  removed  with  their  families  to  Illinois. 
Mrs.  Roe,  who  was  an  ardent  abolitionist,  assigns  negro 
slavery  as  the  cause  of  their  departure.  She  makes  this  further 
remark  which,  if  correct,  adds  a  bit  of  history  highly  interest 
ing  to  the  people  of  Illinois :  "  Twice  in  his  life  did  Dr.  Cad- 
well  give  the  casting  vote  in  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  and  the  last  time  the  matter  was  settled 
permanently  in  favor  of  freedom." a 

Of  James  Lyon,  the  Colonel's  oldest  son,  who  had  acquired 
the  printer's  trade  at  Philadelphia  under  his  father's  illustrious 
friend  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  next  was  a  busy  man  of  affairs 
at  Fair  Haven,  I  have  gleaned  further  particulars  from  various 
letters  written  by  his  father,  his  brother  Chittenden,  and  by 
no  less  a  personage  than  Thomas  Jefferson,  with  whom  James 
Lyon  was  well  acquainted.  After  living  at  Eddyville  for  many 
years  he  removed  to  South  Carolina,  where  he  passed  the  last 
years  of  his  life.  I  think  it  probable  that  he  was  the  same 
person  referred  to  by  Matthew  S.  Lyon  of  Evansville,  Indiana, 
in  a  letter  written  to  me  by  the  latter  gentleman  in  the  year 
1881.  Reference  to  this  letter  is  made  in  a  former  chapter. 
An  unfinished  autobiography  left  by  old  Colonel  Lyon,  after 
having  been  gnawed  by  mice  in  the  attic,  finally  fell  into  the 
hands  of  this  grandson,  Matthew  S.  Lyon,  who  could  not 
possibly  decipher  it.  "Some  years  later,"  he  says,  "the 
MS.  was  taken  by  a  relative  of  his  (Mason  R.  Lyon,  I  think) 
to  Alabama.  If  I  am  not  mistaken  this  Lyon  was  engaged  in 

<*Ibid.,  p.  44.  Mrs.  Roe's  book  was  the  first  Abolition  story  pub 
lished  in  this  country.  The  first  edition  appeared  many  years  before 
the  second. 


4l6  MATTHEW   LYON 

publishing  a  newspaper.  I  think  he  gave  up  the  idea  of 
restoring  it  himself,  as  I  have  never  heard  anything  from  him 
or  it  since."  The  description  answers  James  Lyon,  and  al 
though  my  correspondent  mentions  his  name  conjecturally  as 
Mason  R.  Lyon,  it  is  not  unlikely  he  really  meant  James.  In 
another  letter  to  me,  May  4,  1881,  he  recalls  one  or  two  pas 
sages  of  his  grandfather's  autobiography,  less  mutilated  than 
the  rest.  This  one  in  particular  in  relation  to  Matthew  Lyon's 
departure  when  a  boy  from  Ireland  struck  me  as  very  graphic : 
"  He  says  in  his  MS.  that  in  the  gray  light  of  the  morning 
of  the  day  fixed  for  the  departure  of  the  vessel  he  bundled 
up  his  little  effects,  stole  into  the  chamber  of  his  mother, 
snatched  a  last  kiss  while  she  slept,  and  before  the  tears 
were  dry  on  his  boyish  cheek,  the  vessel  had  spread  her 
white  wings  and  turned  her  prow  to  the  land  of  promise 
which  beckoned  him  on  with  an  inscrutable  force  to  his  fate, 
whatever  it  might  be,  in  the  new  world." 

In  January,  1805,  Matthew  Lyon  wrote  from  Washington 
to  his  old  friend  at  Fair  Haven,  Judge  James  Witherell,  and 
informed  him  that  his  son  James  Lyon  was  engaged  in  ship 
building  on  his  own  account  at  Eddyville,  and  by  good  lucR 
and  business  management  had  made  considerable  money. 
Some  years  later  James  had  it  in  his  power  to  aid  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  in  hunting  down  a  rascal  who  had  attempted  to  swindle 
the  venerable  ex-President,  as  the  following  interesting  letter 
discloses: 

"  Monticello,  September  5,  1811. 

"  Sir. — I  enclose  you  the  copy  of  a  letter  from  a  James  L. 
Edwards,  of  Boston.  You  will  perceive  at  once  its  swindling 
object.  It  appeals  to  two  dead  men,  and  one  (yourself)  whom 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  4*7 

he  supposes  I  cannot  get  at.  I  have  written  him  an  answer 
which  may  perhaps  prevent  his  persevering  in  the  attempt, 
for  the  whole  face  of  his  letter  betrays  a  consciousness  of  its 
guilt.  But  perhaps  he  may  expect  that  I  would  sacrifice  a 
sum  of  money  rather  than  be  disturbed  with  encountering  a 
bold  falsehood.  In  this  he  is  mistaken;  and  to  prepare  to 
meet  him,  should  he  repeat  his  demand,  and  considering  that 
he  has  presumed  to  implicate  your  name  in  this  attempt,  I 
take  the  liberty  of  requesting  a  letter  from  you  bearing  testi 
mony  to  the  truth  of  my  never  having  made  to  you,  or  within 
your  knowledge  or  information,  any  such  promise  to  your 
self,  your  partner  Morse,  or  any  other.  My  confidence  in 
your  character  leaves  we  without  a  doubt  of  your  honest  aid 
in  repelling  this  base  and  bold  attempt  to  fix  on  me  practices 
to  which  no  honors  or  powers  in  this  world  would  ever  have 
induced  me  to  stoop.  I  have  solicited  none,  intrigued  for 
none.  Those  which  my  country  has  thought  proper  to  con 
fide  to  me  have  been  of  their  own  mere  motion,  unasked  by 
me.  Such  practices  as  this  letter-writer  imputes  to  me  would 
have  proved  me  unworthy  of  their  confidence. 

"  It  is  long  since  I  have  known  anything  of  your  situation 
or  pursuits.  I  hope  they  have  been  successful,  and  tender 
you  my  best  wishes  that  they  may  continue  so,  and  for  your 
own  health  and  happiness."0 

The  descendants  of  Colonel  Lyon  have  been  numerous,  and 
well  and  favorably  known  in  Kentucky  and  other  States.  The 
most  distinguished  of  them  was  his  son  Chittenden  Lyon,  a 
prominent  member  of  Congress  during  the  administrations  of 


°  Letter  of  Thomas  Jefferson  to  James  Lyon,  "  Works  of  Jefferson," 
VI,  10. 


MATTHEW   LYON 

General  Jackson.  Lyon  county  took  its  name  from  him,  and 
the  people  of  Kentucky  held  him  in  honor  and  affection.  His 
nature,  like  that  of  his  father,  was  bold,  generous  and  chivalric. 
In  stature  he  was  a  Hercules,  and  one  of  the  handsomest  men 
of  his  time.  I  was  anxious  to  procure  his  (picture  for  this 
volume,  and  sought  for  it  in  vain  from  several  of  his  descend 
ants.  His  son  Matthew  S.  Lyon,  of  Evansville,  Indiana,  in 
the  letter  already  mentioned,  says :  "  There  is  no  likeness  of 
my  father  in  existence.  He  died  before  photography  came  in, 
and  while  in  politics,  unlike  some  of  our  men  of  mark,  he 
had  no  ambition  to  see  his  picture  in  public  places.  His  fine, 
manly  and  handsome  face  (he  was  the  finest  looking  man  I 
ever  saw)  would  have  made  a  splendid  picture.  He  died  at 
fifty-four,  and  had  not  a  wrinkle  on  his  face.  His  weight 
was  ordinarily  240  pounds."  I  was  in  the  end  fortunate 
enough  to  obtain  the  picture  which  this  son  did  not  think 
was  in  existence,  but  Col.  E.  C.  Machen,  his  grandson, 
procured  a  good  pencil  sketch  or  etching  of  Chittenden  Lyon 
from  a  member  of  his  family  in  the  West,  which  is  reproduced 
in  these  pages. 

Another  of  his  sons,  the  late  Thompson  A.  Lyon  of  Louis 
ville,  who  aided  me  more  than  any  other  person  in  collecting 
data  and  materials  for  this  biography,  thus  wrote  in  reply  to 
my  question  as  to  the  accuracy  of  Rev.  Dr.  Beaman's  descrip 
tion  of  his  father,  Chittenden  Lyon,  as  a  "  torpedo  "  or  "  witch- 
quill:"  "From  all  I  have  heard,  together  with  my  recollection 
of  my  father,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  Dr.  Beaman's  ac 
count  of  his  youth  is  correct.  He  was  a  '  broth  of  a  boy/  with 
so  much  of  the  blood  of  his  father,  that  he  was  ever  ready 
for  a  hand  to  hand  fight  on  the  shortest  notice.  When  I 


CHITTENDEN  LYON. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  419 

was  a  boy  my  father  was  known  and  called  by  everybody, 
old  and  young,  'Uncle  Chit/  He  was  universally  popular 
and  greatly  beloved.  A  prominent  characteristic  of  his  was  to 
take  sides  with  the  weaker  party  in  any  difficulty."  He  was 
a  man  of  wealth,  and  great  energy,  and  business  ability. 
When  his  father  in  his  latter  years  was  embarrassed  in  his 
pecuniary  affairs,  this  noble  son  came  to  his  relief,  advancing 
over  $28,000,,  at  that  time  an  immense  sum,  out  of  his  own 
pocket  to  discharge  the  liabilities.  His  habits  were  more  con 
vivial  than  his  father's,  and  he  would  pass  the  social  glass 
freely.  But  Matthew  Lyon  was  a  strictly  sober  man,  while 
Chittenden  Lyon,  though  not  dissipated,  kept  a  generous  side 
board,  and  indulged  in  moderate  potations.  The  unamiable 
John  Quincy  Adams  speaks  of  him  in  his  Memoirs  rather 
spitefully,  and  describes  a  debate  in  Congress  at  2  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  with  Chittenden  Lyon  addressing  the  House  "  as 
drunk  as  a  lord."a  The  son  of  Matthew  Lyon  was  hardly  a 
favorite  of  the  son  of  John  Adams,  but  whatever  the  vitriolic 
John  Quincy  Adams  thought  or  said,  the  fact  is  undisputed 
that  Chittenden  Lyon  was  a  man  generally  and  justly  esteemed 
and  loved,  and  every  Kentuckian  had  a  soft  place  in  his  heart 
for  "  Uncle  Chit."  I  subjoin  a  letter  of  his  which  contains 
family  history  of  much  interest : 

"  House  of  Representatives, 

Washington,  D.  C,  April  5,  1828. 
To  Hon.  James  Witherell: 

Dear  Sir. — Your  esteemed  favor  of  the  I7th  ultimo  was 
received  this  morning,  and  letter  contained  therein  was  handed 
to  Colonel  Watson. 

«  "  Memoirs  of  John  Quincy  Adams,"  VIII,  532. 


42O  MATTHEW   LYON 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  receive  this  attention  from 
the  long  and  much  valued  friend  of  my  lamented  father,  and 
brings  to  my  mind  the  scenes  of  my  childhood.  I  well  recol 
lect  you  and  your  family,  and  regret  to  learn  that  so  many 
of  them  have,  like  my  own  connection,  '  gone  the  way  of  all 
flesh.'  You  enquire  after  my  mother.  She  is  no  more ;  she 
survived  my  father  about  18  months,  worn  down  with  grief 
and  affliction  for  the  misfortune  and  death  of  her  husband  and 
two  children  in  less  than  two  years ;  but  she  found  consolation 
and  resignation  in  religion.  She  had  been  for  the  last  twelve 
years  of  her  somewhat  eventful  life  an  exemplary  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  died  in  full  hope  and 
faith  of  sleeping  in  the  arms  of  her  God.  My  eldest  half- 
brother,  James  Lyon,  died  in  South  Carolina  about  four  years 
since,  poor.  My  eldest  half-sister,  Ann  Messenger,  and  her 
family  reside  in  Illinois  near  Belleville.  Her  husband  is  in 
comfortable  circumstances,  and  very  respectable.  Sister 
Pamelia  resides  in  the  same  State;  her  husband,  Dr.  Geo.  Cad- 
well,  died  some  two  years  since,  leaving  seven  unmarried 
daughters,  and  no  son,  (his  only  one  having  died  some  years 
before  him)  in  moderate  circumstances.  My  half-brother, 
Elijah  G.  Galusha,  resides  in  Kentucky,  near  me.  He  married 
the  daughter  of  Mr.  Throop,  and  is  a  poor  farmer.  My  eldest 
own  sister,  Minerva,  resides  in  Beavertown,  Penn.  Her  hus 
band,  Dr.  Catlett,  late  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Army, 
died  a  little  more  than  three  years  ago,  in  moderate  circum 
stances.  My  sister  Aurelia  died  about  nine  months  before 
my  father,  leaving  two  orphan  children.  Her  husband,  Dr. 
H.  Skinner,  died  about  two  years  before  her,  and  left  a  pretty 
little  estate  for  their  children.  My  brother  Matthew  lives 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  421 

within  two  miles  of  my  residence,  (Eddyville,  Ky.,)  and  is 
doing  very  well — in  fact,  getting  rich,  for  he  minds  the  main 
chance  and  dabbles  but  little  in  politics,  but  is  a  candidate  for 
elector  on  the  Jackson  ticket.  My  sister,  Eliza  Ann,  born  in 
Kentucky,  resides  also  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  She  married  a 
worthy  man,  but  poor,  and  moved  to  that  State  about  one 
year  ago.  My  youngest  brother,  Giles,  also  born  in  Ken 
tucky,  and  who  lived  with  my  mother,  died  in  the  2oth  year  of 
his  age,  about  five  months  before  my  mother. 

Of  those  who  went  with  or  followed  my  father,  besides  our 
family,  G.  D.  Cobb,  who  married  Modena  Clark,  resides  at 
Eddyville;  has  a  large  and  respectable  family,  but  is  reduced 
in  his  circumstances  in  consequence  of  losing  a  valuable  farm, 
which  was  taken  by  a  prior  claim  after  a  long  law  suit,  which 
he  had  highly  improved.  Captain  Throop  has  been  dead 
many  years;  he  died  as  he  lived,  poor.  His  wife,  second 
daughter,  and  youngest  son  went  to  her  brother,  Samuel  Vail, 
at  Baton  Rouge,  La.,  and  are  all  dead.  His  eldest  son,  John, 
resides  at  Eddyville,  a  vagabond.  His  daughter,  Betsy,  is  a 
widow.  Samuel  C.  Clark  resides  with  G.  D.  Cobb;  is  poor, 
and  has  lost  one  leg,  amputated  close  up  to  the  body ;  and  last, 
old  General  Whitehouse,  whom  you  no  doubt  recollect,  fol 
lowed  my  father  to  Kentucky,  and  survived  both  my  father 
and  mother,  and  several  of  the  younger  branches  of  the  family, 
died  about  eighteen  months  since,  having  been  a  charge  on 
my  hands  for  many  years. 

In  answering  your  enquiries  I  have  necessarily  been  led  into 
a  long,  and  to  you,  somewhat  uninteresting  letter,  while  a  long 
speech  was  making  upon  the  Tariff  bill,  which  is  still  under 
consideration  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 


422  MATTHEW   LYON 

I  have  had  a  severe  indisposition  since  my  arrival  here, 
which  confined  me  near  a  month,  but  I  am  now  perfectly  re 
covered.  I  have  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  my  wife  since  I 
left  home.  She  died  on  the  4th  of  February,  and  has  left  me 
a  family  of  five  young  children,  the  eldest  10  years,  the  young 
est  3  months  and  4  days. 

Please  present  my  respects  to  your  good  lady. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

CHITTENDEN  LYON."* 

This  worthy  son  of  a  worthy  father  died  at  the  comparatively 
early  age  of  fifty-four,  on  the  23d  of  November,  1842.  One 
of  his  daughters,  to  whom  the  heritage  of  beauty  in  a  marked 
degree  belonged,  Miss  Margaret  A.  Lyon,  married  Mr.  Willis 
B.  Machen,  who  became  a  Senator  in  Congress,  and  in  the 
election  of  1872  received  the  electoral  vote  of  Kentucky  for 
the  office  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  Wishing  to 
procure  a  brief  sketch  of  this  grandson  by  marriage  of 
Matthew  Lyon,  I  requested  a  Kentucky  gentleman  who  was 
well  acquainted  with  Mr.  Machen,  to  send  me  a  short  account 
of  his  life,  and  from  his  interesting  letter  the  following  ex 
tracts  are  taken: 

"  Eddyville,  Ky.,  November  22,  1899. 
Hon.  J.  Fairfax  McLaughlin, 

New  York  City : 

Dear  Sir. — Replying  to  yours  of  recent  date,  it  gives  me 
very  great  pleasure  to  furnish  the  information  you  desire. 

Hon.  Willis  Benson  Machen  was  born  in  Caldwell  (now 
Lyon)  county,  Ky.,  April  5,  1810,  and  died  September  29, 
1893.  All  his  life  was  spent  in  Lyon  county. 

«A.  N.  Adams's  "  History  of  Fair  Haven,"  pp.  424-425. 


WILLIS  B.  MACHEN, 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  423 

There  can  be  no  question  but  what  the  absolute  respect  of 
all  who  knew  him  fixed  his  status  as  a  pure-minded  Christian 
gentleman  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word.  He  drew  the 
strong  and  weak  alike  to  him  through  his  manliness  as  a  man, 
his  tremendous  force  as  an  individual,  and  his  fairness  under 
all  circumstances.  He  never  temporized  with  wrong  in  the 
slightest  degree.  He  was  never  known  to  shirk  a  duty,  be  it 
great  or  small.  Even  his  political  opponents  always  accorded 
to  him  honesty  of  belief  and  integrity  of  purpose.  He  de 
spised  trickery  and  this  quality  in  him  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  live  in  that  retirement  best  suited  to  his  tempera 
ment.  He  had  no  natural  taste  for  public  life,  though  he  was 
pushed  into  positions  of  trust  in  matters  of  church  and  state. 
Where  large  affairs  of  business  requiring  force  of  character, 
tact,  skill,  experience,  foresight,  and  immense  energy  were 
involved,  he  was  generally  selected  by  the  courts  to  take 
charge  of  them,  and  some  of  the  largest  and  most  complicated 
estates  in  this  section  of  country  were  handled  by  him  with 
consummate  skill.  No  taint  of  suspicion  ever  crossed  his 
private  life,  nor  was  any  impurity  of  motive  ever  imputed  to 
him  by  those  who  knew  him. 

His  mind  and  abilities  were  of  a  high  order,  and  from  com 
parative  obscurity,  such  as  life  on  the  frontier  necessitated  in 
his  youth,  he  rose  upon  his  own  merits  to  prominence,  because 
his  neighbors  who  knew  him  best  instinctively  turned  to  him 
when  counsel  or  leadership  were  needed.  He  was  always  a 
Jefferson- Jackson  Democrat,  and  in  early  manhood  was  a  pro 
nounced  factor  in  framing  the  Constitution  of  Kentucky.  ,His 
unquestioned  leadership  as  a  layman  in  the  Methodist  Church 
(South)  was  attested  by  his  regular  selection  as  a  delegate  to 


424  MATTHEW   LYON 

their  annual  and  quadrennial  conferences.  His  advice  was 
seemingly  indispensable  in  affairs  of  that  denomination. 

First  as  a  member  of  the  convention  which  framed  the  Consti 
tution  of  Kentucky,  afterwards  as  a  member  of  the  State  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives,  then  as  a  member  of  the  Con 
federate  Congress,  afterwards  a  Senator  of  the  United  States 
from  this  State,  he  was  always  the  same  courtly  gentleman, 
holding  the  respect  of  his  political  opponents,  and  the  admira 
tion  and  affection  of  his  friends  and  allies. 

He  married  Margaret  A.,  a  granddaughter  of  Col.  Matthew 
Lyon,  and  the  writer  heard  this  from  the  lips  of  the  late  David 
Watts  of  your  city,  who  became  the  head  of  the  foremost  to 
bacco  house  of  its  day:  '  When  I  stood  up  with  Willis  Machen 
as  his  best  man,  he  and  his  bride  were  the  handsomest,  the 
most  aristocratic  looking,  and  best  matched  couple  I  ever  saw 
in  my  life/  This  was  said  after  Mr.  Watts  had  had  great 
opportunity  to  see  people  in  all  the  great  centers  of  the  world. 
He  added :  '  My  opinion  has  never  changed.' 

Colonel  Machen  won  his  way  in  the  world  by  force  of  his 
own  character,  though  he  was  justly  proud  of  his  ancestry, 
and  here  where  he  is  buried  he  is  mourned  by  all  who  knew  him 
as  one  of  the  tenderest,  and  yet  one  of  the  fairest  and  firmest 
of  men;  an  honor  to  his  State  and  his  country,  and  the  pride 
of  the  community  in  which  he  spent  a  lifetime. 

In  one  of  the  Democratic  conventions  (I  do  not  recollect 
which),  he  was  presented  and  voted  for  by  the  Kentucky  dele 
gation  as  their  choice  for  Vice-President. 

He  was  the  most  thoroughly  self-respecting  man  I  ever 
knew,  without  a  taint  of  self-consciousness  or  self-importance 
that  repels  people. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  425 

In  all  the  relations  of  life  he  measured  up  to  the  best  tradi 
tions  of  American  manhood  and  Christian  requirement.  As 
son,  husband,  father  and  friend,  he  was  ever  considerate  of  and 
true  to  the  relation.  While  he  was  not  the  eldest  of  a  large 
family  of  brothers  and  sisters,  he  was  the  foremost,  though  all 
were  conspicuous  leaders  in  their  circles  and  communities. 

Mr.  Machen  was  born  and  bred  in  this  county,  and  I  have 
often  heard  him  tell  of  his  taking  the  products  of  his  father's 
farm  to  New  Orleans  on  flatboats  built  in  Matthew  Lyon's  old 
shipyard,  and  walking  back,  1,100  miles,  with  the  proceeds  of 
the  same  in  his  pocket.  This  was  before  the  days  of  traveling 
facilities,  when  it  required  both  intelligence  and  stamina  of  a 
high  order  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  time.  Mr.  Machen 
afterwards  became  joint  proprietor  of  iron  furnaces,  and  a 
forge  from  which  were  turned  out  great  sugar  kettles  for  the 
Louisiana  planters,  and  it  was  at  a  furnace  once  owned  by  him 
that  Wm.  Kelly  invented  what  is  known  as  the  Bessemer 
process  for  making  steel.  After  many  years  of  waiting  for  the 
proper  recognition  of  his  invention,  during  which  Bessemer 
reaped  an  enormous  fortune,  investigation  showed  so  unmis 
takably  that  Kelly  was  the  inventor,  Congress  recognized  his 
claims  by  extending  the  patent  in  this  country  for  seven  years, 
thus  giving  Kelly  a  fortune  that  came  from  royalties.  *  But 
few  people  know  while  traveling  over  the  finest  railroads  in 
the  world,  that  the  process  of  making  the  rails  was  invented  in 
Lyon  county. 

Taken  all  in  all,  certainly  this  generation  in  this  community 
will  not  look  upon  W.  B.  Machen's  like  again.  Perhaps  no 
man  that  ever  lived  in  the  community  will  be  more  missed  by 
God's  poor  than  he,  and  according  to  that  Christianity  which 


426  MATTHEW   LYON 

he  professed  and  practised  all  his  life,  when  Willis  Machen 
passed  over  to  a  beautiful  beyond,  Lazarus  must  have  waited 
with  outstretched  arms  to  welcome  him  to  the  other  shore." 

A  picture  of  Senator  Machen,  which  my  correspondent  was 
good  enough  to  send  me,  is  reproduced  in  this  volume. 

The  late  Thompson  A.  Lyon  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  to  whom, 
I  repeat,  I  am  more  indebted  for  original  materials  in  the  prepa 
ration  of  this  book  than  to  any  other  person,  was  a  grandson, 
as  is  also  his  former  business  partner,  Mr.  John  H.  Roe,  of  old 
Colonel  Lyon.  These  two  gentlemen  were  the  agents  for 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  of  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  So 
ciety  of  New  York.  Mr.  Thompson  A.  Lyon  had  been  in  im 
paired  health  for  a  considerable  time  before  his  death,  which 
took  place  in  New  York  at  the  residence  of  his  nephew,  Col. 
E.  C.  Machen,  in  that  city  on  the  I3th  of  August,  1899.  I 
called  on  him  at  the  Waldorf-Astoria  hotel  a  few  weeks  prior 
to  his  decease,  and  he  expressed  a  warm  desire  to  read  the 
advance  sheets  of  this  volume.  I  sent  them  to  him,  and 
Colonel  Machen,  who  had  in  the  meantime  removed  his  uncle 
from  the  hotel  to  his  own  residence,  told  me  that  he  read  them 
with  the  keenest  interest.  Never  have  I  witnessed  more  tender 
devotion  to  an  invalid  than  this  nephew  showed  throughout. 
Everything  that  medical  skill,  unwearied  nursing,  and  love 
could  bestow  was  lavished  by  him  on  Mr.  Lyon.  Mrs.  Lyon 
was  summoned  from  Louisville,  and  reached  New  York  in  time 
to  give  her  fond  ministrations  to  her  stricken  one,  and  soothe 
the  last  hours  of  a  noble  and  devoted  husband.  His  remains 
were  carried  back  to  Kentucky  for  burial  among  his  kindred. 
The  qualities  of  Thompson  A.  Lyon  were  marked.  His  love  of 
truth,  desire  to  serve  and  oblige  others,  straightforward 


EDWARD  C.  MACHEN. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  427 

methods,  and  great  industry,  reminded  me  very  much  of  all  I 
had  read  of  his  grandfather,  and  to  his  zeal  and  indefatigable 
industry  am  I,  and  are  my  readers  indebted  for  many  of  the 
lost  threads  which  he  rescued  from  oblivion,  and  furnished  for 
this  biography. 

Other  descendants  there  are  of  note,  deserving  of  a  place 
in  these  pages.  General  Hylon  B.  Lyon,  of  Eddyville,  is  a 
grandson  of  Colonel  Lyon.  A  graduate  of  West  Point  in 
the  class  of  '56,  a  brave  officer  in  the  United  States  army,  who 
saw  service  in  Florida,  California,  Oregon,  Washington  Ter 
ritory,  Idaho  and  Montana,  and  who  joined  the  Confederate 
army  in  1861,  he  was  at  the  close  of  the  civil  war  in  command 
of  the  Department  of  Western  Kentucky.  Frank  Lyon,  a  son 
of  the  General,  is  a  lieutenant  in  the  United  States  navy,  and 
on  board  the  Oregon  took  part,  in  the  glorious  sea  fight  off 
Santiago.  Still  another  great-grandson  of  Matthew  Lyon  is 
the  Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  of  Iowa,  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Republican  party,  and  a  conspicuous  member  of  the  present 
Congress.  Mr.  Hepburn,  like  his  distinguished  ancestor,  is  a 
man  of  national  reputation. 

There  is  some  account  of  Colonel  Lyon  in  that  extremely 
rare  book,  "  A  Pioneer  History  of  Illinois,"  by  Governor  Rey 
nolds,  a  copy  of  which  I  once  happened  upon  in  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Charles  L.  Woodward,  who,  since  Sabin,  is  the  leading 
authority  in  Americana  among  the  New  York  book 
sellers.  I  was  frightened  off  by  the  price  of  the  little 
volume,  twelve  or  fifteen  dollars,  but  the  unique  Mr.  Wood 
ward,  who  is  as  original  in  his  ways  as  he  is  deep  in  the 
mysteries  of  first  editions,  addressing  me  by  a  nickname  which 
he  had  somehow  come  to  bestow  on  me,  said:  "Here,  Mr. 


428  MATTHEW   LYON 

Adirondack,  if  you  don't  want  to  buy  it,  borrow  it,"  and  thrust 
the  book  upon  me. 

I  subjoin  an  extract  from  Governor  Reynolds's  pages: 

"  In  the  year  1799  sailed  down  the  Ohio  river  Matthew  Lyon 
and  family,  with  John  Messinger  and  Dr.  George  Cadwell, 
and  their  respective  families.  These  last  two  named  were  the 
sons-in-law  of  Lyon,  and  all  settled  in  Kentucky.  Messinger 
was  a  good  mathematician,  and  wrote  a  manual  or  handbook 
intended  for  convenience  in  practical  surveying.  Messinger 
and  Cadwell  left  Kentucky  in  1802,  and  landed  in  the  Ameri 
can  Bottom  not  far  from  old  Fort  Chatris.  They  settled  in 
Illinois. 

"  Matthew  Lyon  had  obtained  a  considerable  celebrity  as  a 
member  of  Congress,  from  the  State  of  Vermont.  He  was  a 
native  of  Ireland,  had  been  in  the  Revolution,  and  was  a  warm 
advocate  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Republicanism,  against  John 
Adams  and  Federalism.  He  possessed  some  talents,  and 
much  ardor  and  enthusiasm.  While  he  was  in  Congress  he 
had  a  difficulty  with  a  member  of  the  Federal  party  and  spit 
in  his  face.  He  was  up  before  Congress  for  contempt;  but 
speeches  were  the  only  result.  He  was  extremely  bitter 
against  the  administration  of  Adams,  and  he  was  fined  and 
imprisoned  under  the  alien  and  sedition  laws.  While  he  was 
in  prison,  in  the  State  of  Vermont,  his  friends  elected  him  to 
Congress,  and  took  him  out  of  confinement,  to  serve  them  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

"  He  represented  his  district  in  Congress  from  Kentucky  for 
several  terms;  and  was  always,  during  a  long  and  important 
life,  an  excessively  warm  and  enthusiastic  partisan  in  politics. 
He  was  at  last  appointed  an  Indian  agpent  for  the  Southern 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  429 

Indians,  and  died  there  at  an  advanced  age.  Long  after  his 
death  Congress  paid  back  to  his  heirs  the  fine  he  paid  with 
interest.  It  was  considered  in  Congress  that  the  fine  was  paid 
under  a  void  law,  and  that  it  was  due  to  principle  as  well  as  to 
his  descendants,  to  refund  the  amount  paid  and  interest.  I 
voted  in  Congress  to  refund  the  fine  and  interest  to  his  heirs. 

"  Matthew  Lyon  was  a  droll  composition.  His  leading  trait 
of  character  was  his  zeal  and  enthusiasm,  almost  to  madness 
itself,  in  any  cause  he  espoused.  He  never  seemed  to  act  cool 
and  deliberate,  but  always  in  a  tumult  and  bustle,  as  if  he  were 
in  a  house  on  fire,  and  was  hurrying  to  get  out.  His  Irish  im 
pulses  were  honest,  and  always  on  the  side  of  human  freedom. 
This  covers  his  excessive  zeal."0  Governor  Reynolds  evi 
dently  had  but  slight  knowledge  of  Matthew  Lyon. 

In  looking  over  the  Edwards  Papers  in  the  Chicago  "  His 
torical  Society's  Collections,"  Vol.  Ill,  I  observed  a  reference 
to  Lyon,  and  the  following  foot  note,  p.  28,  "  Lyon  was  an 
Irishman  who  emigrated  to  America  in  1759,  an(^  founded  the 
town  of  Fairfield,  Vermont,  in  1783.  This  was  the  town  in 
which  Chester  A.  Arthur  was  born."  The  note  is  continued 
on  the  next  page,  29,  and  is  as  follows :  "  It  might  be  added 
that  he  (Lyon)  went  to  St.  Louis  in  1811,  and  in  1812  became 
a  candidate  for  delegate  to  Congress  from  Louisiana  Territory, 
but  was  beaten  by  Edward  Hempstead."  The  year  of  his  ar 
rival  in  America  was  1765,  and  the  town  he  founded  is  Fair 
Haven.  His  going  to  St.  Louis,  and  unsuccessful  candidacy 

0  "  A  Pioneer  History  of  Illinois;  Containing  the  Discovery  in  16731, 
and  the  History  of  the  Country  to  the  Year  1818,  When  the  State 
Government  was  Organized."  By  John  Reynolds,  pp.  276-277. 
Belleville,  111.  Published  by  N.  A.  Randall,  1852. 


43°  MATTHEW   LYON 

for  Congress  in  the  Louisiana  Territory  are  interesting  facts, 
some  reference  to  which  is  found  in  Lyon's  correspondence. 

The  following  letter  from  Colonel  Lyon  was  addressed  to 
Ninian  Edwards: 

"  Washington,  February  10,  1804. 

Dear  Sir. — Your  favor  of  the  i8th  ult.  came  to  hand  yester 
day.  I  am  sorry  my  letter  from  here  did  not  reach  you  before 
you  despaired  of  hearing  from  me,  not  so  much  on  Dr.  Catlett's 
account  as  some  other  considerations. 

When  I  came  here  I  had  in  view  to  recommend  the  doctor 
for  the  place  of  Secretary  of  the  new  Territory  to  be  formed 
in  Upper  Louisiana.  There  are  so  many  candidates  that  I  had 
almost  given  it  up.  The  talk  now  is  to  annex  to  Indiana  Ter 
ritory  for  the  present  all  down  to  N.  Madrid,  below  that  until 
it  comes  opposite  to  Fort  Adams  to  the  Natchez  Territory,  so 
form  one  new  Territorial  Government. 

The  Doctor's  concern  with  victualing  the  army  has  led  him 
to  wish  for  an  appointment  of  Surgeon's  Mate;  for  this  I 
wanted  no  additional  interest,  and  was  happy  accidentally  to 
find  John  T.  Mason  capable  of  giving  his  character.  Should 
I  think  of  anything  further  for  him  I  may  apply  to  Mr.  Wirt. 

Georgia  cession  has  occupied  Congress  the  three  last  days, 
and  the  question  (which  is,  shall  our  Commissioners  proceed 
with  the  compromise?)  is  not  yet  taken.  Mr.  Randolph  says 
no ;  he  had  rathe,r  give  it  back  to  the  Indians ;  he  had  rather  the 
United  States  should  lose  the  whole  in  a  law  suit;  he  had 
rather  call  out  the  National  force  and  spend  the  National 
treasure  to  defend  it.  Other  Southern  members  say  they 
don't  wish  for  the  compromise;  they  are  satisfied  to  have  the 
country  remain  uncultivated. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  43! 

I  fancy  that  the  Southern  gentry  begin  to  be  alarmed  for 
their  markets.  They  begin  to  see  that  in  proportion  as  the 
Western  country  grows  in  population  and  industry,  their 
markets  for  tobacco,  flour  and  cotton  will  be  overstocked;  the 
Northern  people  want  our  cotton,  hemp  and  lead,  and  they 
don't  care  how  much  other  produce  we  have  to  spare,  as  they 
intend  to  be  the  carrier. 

The  horrid  kind  of  government  first- proposed  for  the  new 
acquired  Territory  may  perhaps  be  imputed  to  this- jealousy. 
I  am,  sir,  with  great  respect, 

Your  very  humble  servt, 

MATTHEW.  LYON. 

Hon.  Ninian  Edwards." 

In  the  year  1802  Livingston  county  returned  Matthew  Lyon 
to  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky,  where  he  figured  so  prom 
inently,  that  a«t  the  next  election,  in  1803,  he  was  elected  to 
Congress,  and  was  continuously  re-elected  to  that  body  until 
1811.  How  different  was  the  situation  of  political  affairs  on 
his  return  to  Washington  from  that  in  which  he  was  placed 
when  last  a  member  of  Congress.  Now  he  was  not  only  on 
the  majority  side  of  the  House,  but  he  became  at  once  a  con 
spicuous  and  acknowledged  leader  of  that  phalanx  of  patriotic 
statesmen  who,  having  fought  i:he  good  fight  and  won  it  in 
1 80 1,  had  returned  to  Washington  to  establish  a  representative 
government,  in  the  dual  sense  of  sovereignty  which  has  made 
the  Republic  the  pride  and  glory  of  Americans,  the  beacon 
light  to  the  oppressed  nations  of  Europe,  and  the  happiest,  be 
cause  the  freest  people  in  the  family  of  nations.  I  have  fol 
lowed  with  extreme  care  the  course  of  events  during  the  time 


432  MATTHEW   LYON 

of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  have  striven  to  divest  myself  of  any  pre 
possession,  and  any  prejudice  in  favor  of  one  set  of  men  or 
against  another  set  of  men,  trying  to  grasp  the  true  meaning 
of  the  words  used  by  Jefferson  in  his  inaugural,  "  We  are  all 
Republicans — we  are  all  Federalists,"  and  of  those  other  words 
of  his,  "  Still  one  thing  more,  fellow-citizens — a  wise  and 
frugal  government,  which  shall  restrain  men  from  injuring  one 
another,  which  shall  leave  them  otherwise  free  to  regulate  their 
own  pursuits  of  industry  and  improvement,  and  shall  not  take 
from  the  mouth  of  labor  the  bread  it  has  earned." 

•Madison  and  Gallatin  in  the  cabinet,  Macon,  Randolph, 
Giles,  Nicholas,  and  Lyon  in  the  House,  a  Senate  veering  from 
Federalism  to  the  State-rights  school,  these  were  the  execu 
tive  and  legislative  agencies  which  gathered  about  Jefferson  to 
build  up  a  government  upon  the  plan  laid  down  in  his  in 
augural.  The  judiciary  remained  to  the  Federalists.  Marshall 
was  the  residuary  legatee  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  right 
ably  and  firmly  did  he  devote  his  great  intellect  to  stem  the  tide 
of  Jeffersonian  Democracy  which  had  set  in  irresistibly  every 
where  else  except  in  the  Supreme  Court.  During  the  trial  of 
Aaron  Burr  the  President  and  Chief  Justice  strained  every 
nerve,  the  one  against  the  other.  The  Court  became  then  as 
afterwards,  at  the  time  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  unpopular 
with  the  people.  Jefferson  reflected  sharply  on  the  course  of 
Marshall,  and  almost  implied  a  miscarriage  of  justice.  William 
H.  Seward  and  Charles  Sumner  denounced  Chief  Justice  Taney 
in  savage  language,  and  appealed  to  a  "  higher  law." 

Burr  had  been  held  to  bail  by  the  Chief  Justice  in  the  sum 
of  $10,000  for  a  misdemeanor,  and  was  about  to  be  proceeded 
against  by  the  government  for  high  treason.  His  lawyer,  Mr. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  433 

Wickham,  at  this  juncture  invited  a  company  of  his  friends,  in 
cluding  Chief  Justice  Marshall  and  Burr,  to  a  dinner  party,  ap 
prising  the  former  of  the  acceptance  of  the  invitation  by  the 
latter,  and  both  appeared  at  the  same  table  among  the  guests. 
Tucker,  in  his  "  Life  of  Jefferson,"  states,  "  there  was  an 
evident  impropriety  in  this  association  between  parties  thus 
related  to  the  public  and  to  each  other,  and  no  one  was  after 
wards  more  sensible  of  it  than  the  Chief  Justice  himself,  but," 
adds  Tucker,  "  it  was  not  an  act  of  deliberation,  but  merely 
inconsiderate."  If  Wickham  had  not  apprised  Marshall  of 
Burr's  intended  coming,  Tucker's  apologetic  words  would 
have  more  meaning. 

The  Federalists  made  much  malicious  gossip  over  Jefferson's 
letter  to  Mazzei.  It  was  a  business  letter  with  "  a  single  para 
graph  only  of  political  information,"  says  Jefferson,  in  a  long 
communication  to  Martin  Van  Buren,  written  June  29,  1824. 
"  In  this  information  there  was  not  one  word,"  says  its  author, 
"  which  would  not  then  have  been,  or  would  not  now  be  ap 
proved  by  every  Republican  in  the  United  States.  *  *  * 
This  paragraph, extracted  and  translated, got  into  a  Paris  paper 
at  a  time  when  the  persons  in  power  there  were  laboring  under 
very  general  disfavor,  and  their  friends  were  eager  to  catch 
at  straws  to  buoy  them  up.  To  them,  therefore,  I  have  always 
imputed  the  interpolation  of  an  entire  paragraph  additional 
to  mine,  which  makes  me  charge  my  own  country  with  ingrati 
tude  and  injustice  to  France.  There  was  not  a  word  in  my 
letter  respecting  France,  or  any  of  the  proceedings  or  relations 
between  this  country  and  that.  Yet  this  interpolated  para 
graph  has  been  the  burden  of  Federal  calumny  *  *  *  and 
is  still  quoted  *  *  *  as  if  it  were  genuine,  and  really  writ- 


434  MATTHEW   LYON 

ten  by  me.  And  even  Judge  Marshall  makes  history  descend 
from  its  dignity,  and  the  ermine  from  its  sanctity,  to  exagger 
ate,  to  record,  and  to  sanction  this  forgery.  In  the  very  last 
note  in  his  book,  he  says,  '  a  letter  from  Mr.  Jefferson  to  Mr. 
Mazzei,  an  Italian,  was  published  in  Florence,  and  re-published 
in  the  Moniteur,  with  very  severe  strictures  on  the  conduct  of 
the  United  States.'  And  instead  of  the  letter  itself,  he  copies 
what  he  says  are  the  remarks  of  the  editor,  which  are  an  ex 
aggerated  commentary  on  the  fabricated  paragraph  itself,  and 
silently  leaves  to  his  reader  to  make  the  ready  inference  that 
these  were  the  sentiments  of  the  letter.  Proof  is  the  duty  of 
the  affirmative  side.  A  negative  cannot  be  possibly  proved. 
But  in  defect  of  impossible  proof  of  what  was  not  in  the  origi 
nal  letter  I  have  its  press-copy  still  in  my  possession.  It 
has  been  shown  to  several,  and  is  open  to  any  one  who  wishes 
to  see  it.  I  have  presumed  only  that  the  interpolation  was 
done  in  Paris.  But  I  never  saw  the  letter  in  either  its  Italian 
or  French  dress,  and  it  may  have  been  done  here,  with  the 
commentary  handed  down  to  posterity  by  the  judge."* 

The  Burr  trial  and  the  Mazzei  letter  furnish  proofs  of  the 
antagonism  which  continued  to  the  end  between  Marshall  and 
Jefferson.  Both  great  and  good  men,  both  founders  of  schools 
of  politics  diametrically  opposite  to  each  other  in  tenets  and 
tendencies,  time  must  solve  the  question,  if  it  has  not  done  so 
already,  which  of  the  two  has  bequeathed  the  better  system 
to  the  American  people 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  1802  the  promises  of  the  In 
augural  Address  were  in  a  large  measure  fulfilled.  Jefferson 
in  the  presidency,  and  John  Randolph,  chairman  of  the  Com- 
Randall's  "  Life  of  Jefferson,"  III,  610. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  435 

mittee  of  Ways  and  Means,  and  administration  leader  in  the 
House,  had  wrought  wonders.  Both  State-rights  men  of  the 
strictest  school,  they  worked  together,  and  hewed  to  the  line. 
Never  in  his  long  career  did  Mr.  Randolph  appear  more  favor 
ably  as  a  statesman  than  during  the  first  administration  of 

'  Jefferson.  His  oratorical  powers  were  of  the  highest  order, 
and  I  once  was  told  by  a  distinguished  member  of  Congress 
who  had  heard  him,  the  Hon.  William  Lucas  of  Virginia,  that 
his  eloquence  stirred  the  soul  more  than  that  of  Gay,  Calhoun 
or  Webster,  the  renowned  triumvirate  of  a  later  day.  Mr. 
Lucas  referred  particularly  to  Randolph's  speech  in  the  Vir 
ginia  Convention  of  1829-30.  With  marvellous  talents,  he 
possessed  also  creative  genius.  His  English  is  more  idiomatic 
than  that  of  any  of  our  statesmen.  His  perceptive 
faculty,  like  that  of  Edgar  A.  Poe  or  Lord  Jeffreys  of  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  was  of  an  acute  kind  which  laid  open  to 
his  mental  vision  the  true  relations  of  a  subject  under  discus 
sion.  His  wit  particularly  distinguished  him.  Abraham  Lin 
coln  is  the  only  other  one  among  our  public  men  who  ap 
proached  Randolph  in  this  talent.  The  Virginian  once  said 
that  the  paternity  of  two-thirds  of  the  bastard  wit  of  his  day 
was  laid  improperly  at  his  door.  A  more  recent  generation  has 

.  attributed  to  Mr.  Lincoln  a  vast  quantity  of  more  or  less  witty 
sayings,  the  origin  of  much  of  which  is  perhaps  similarly  spu 
rious.  But  the  caustic  Democratic  orator  from  Virginia,  and 
the  genial  Republican  President  from  Illinois,  saw  like  Sheri 
dan  or  Dickens  the  humorous  side  of  subjects,  and  flashed 
with  irresistible  drollery,  generally  by  a  single  word  or  phrase, 
such  as  going  out  of  his  way  to  kick  a  sheep,  or  swapping 
horses  while  crossing  a  stream,  into  the  mirth  provoking  lights 


MATTHEW   LYON 

and  shades  of  their  theme.  A  clever  scribe  might  furnish  a 
book  quite  instructive  and  entertaining,  the  materials  for  which 
could  be  culled  from  the  speeches,  letters  and  sayings  of  our 
two  most  famous  emancipationists,  the  one  having  set  free  four 
hundred  of  his  own  slaves,  the  other  four  million  belonging  to 
other  people.  But  alas  and  alack,  Randolph  fell  away  from 
Jefferson,  his  former  political  idol,  and  Saint  Thomas  of  Can 
terbury,  a  name  he  was  fond  of  calling  him  by,  henceforth  be 
came  a  derided  tutelary,  Saint  Thomas  of  Cantingbury.  Dur 
ing  the  three  or  four  years  that  they  worked  shoulder  to 
shoulder  they  had  reduced  the  army  and  navy  to  what  was 
barely  necessary.  Only  enough  soldiers  remained  to  garrison 
the  widely  separated  small  posts  on  the  frontiers,  in  general 
merely  a  captain's  company,  in  no  case  more  than  two  or  three 
companies,  and  none  ever  large  enough  to  need  a  field  officer. 
Jefferson  took  pride  in  saying  that  it  was  not  possible  to  bring 
those  garrisons  together,  because  it  would  be  an  abandonment 
of  their  posts.  Congress  abolished  executive  patronage  and 
preponderance,  under  the  lead  of  Randolph,  by  cutting  down 
one-half  the  offices  in  the  United  States,  Jefferson  fully  con 
senting.  Internal  taxes  were  wiped  out,  and  provision  was 
made  notwithstanding  to  pay  the  public  debt  in  eighteen  years. 
"  Congress,"  exclaimed  the  exultant  President  in  a  letter  to 
Kosciusko,  "have  lopped  off  a  parasite  limb  planted  by  their 
predecessors  in  the  judiciary  body  for  party  purposes;  they  are 
opening  the  door  of  hospitality  to  fugitives  from  the  oppres 
sions  of  other  countries ;  and  we  have  suppressed  all  those  pub 
lic  forms  and  ceremonies"  (Matthew  Lyon  must  have  been  re 
joiced),  "  which  tended  to  familiarize  the  public  eye  to  the  har 
bingers  of  another  form  of  government.  The  people  are  nearly 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  437 

all  united.  Their  quondam  leaders  infuriated  with  a  sense  of 
their  impotence",  (Hamilton  at  New  York  as  "Decius"  was 
still  firing  paper  bullets  at  Jefferson),  "  will  soon  be  seen  or 
heard  only  in  the  newspapers  which  serve  as  chimneys  to  carry 
off  noxious  vapors  and  smoke;  and  all  is  now  tranquil,  firm 
and  well,  as  it  should  be."* 

Matthew  Lyon  at  this  time  was  in  the  Kentucky  Legislature. 
In  1801  he  had  closed  his  career  in  Congress  as  a  member  from 
Vermont.  President  Jefferson  offered  to  appoint  him  to  the 
responsible  and  lucrative  office  of  Commissary-General  of  the 
Western  Army.5  Lyon  declined  the  honor,  and  the  President 
appointed  his  son,  James  Lyon,  whose  devotion  to  Democracy 
had  been  well  proved,  to  a  clerkship  under  the  government. 
Hildreth,  the  unscrupulous  slanderer  of  Jefferson  and  Ran 
dolph,  singles  out  this  appointment  as  occasion  for  another 
slur  upon  the  President." 

Having  served  a  term  among  the  Kentucky  lawmakers,  Col. 
Lyon  came  to  Congress  once  more  as  one  of  the  representa 
tives  of  the  Blue  Grass  Commonwealth.  A  ready  debater,  an 
authority  upon  parliamentary  rules,  educated  in  public  affairs 
by  a  quarter  of  a  century's  service  in  State  and  National  legis 
latures,  "he  is  said,"  remarks  Wharton,  "by  those  who  recol 
lect  him  at  this  stage  to  have  been  a  man  of  respectable  bear 
ing,  and  of  frank  and  almost  engaging  manner.  "d  The  word 
"almost"  might  imply  that  Mr.  Wharton  had  some  doubt  about 
it.  This  is  not  surprising  when  the  reader  recalls  Cobbett's 


"Jefferson's  Works.  IV.  430-431. 

5Wharton's  "  State  Trials  of  the  United  States,"  p.  343. 

c  Hildreth's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  2d  series,  II,  468. 
4  Wharton's  "  State  Trials  of  the  United  States,"  p.  343. 


438  MATTHEW   LYON 

lampoons,  and  the  avalanche  of  Federal  caricatures  of  Lyon. 
Wharton  derived  his  opinion  from  the  newspapers.  The  truth 
is  Lyon  was  a  man  of  comely  appearance,  of  imposing  carriage, 
and  strikingly  intellectual  countenance.  The  learned  editor  of  the 
"Records  of  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Vermont,"  Mr.  E.  P. 
Walton,  has  many  references  to  Col.  Lyon  by  those  who  knew 
him  intimately,  and  his  appearance,  when  brought  in  question, 
is  always  commented  upon  favorably.  Mr.  Walton,  as  well 
as  a  writer  in  the  Vermont  Historical  Magazine,  and  another 
in  Deming's  Catalogue,  lead  me  to  suppose  that  he  was  a 
splendid  looking  man.  Mr.  Walton  compares  him  to  the  dis 
tinguished  Udney  Hay,  or  rather  Hay  to  Lyon,  and  says: 
"Col.  Udney  Hay  was  a  descendant  from  an  eminent  family 
of  that  name  in  Scotland,  and  the  colonel  himself  is  said  to 
have  been  highly  educated  and  distinguished  for  his  talents — 'a 
gentleman,  an  imposing  man,  rather  of  the  Matthew  Lyon 
cast/  "° 

Our  Kentucky  representative  was  sworn  in  at  the  called  ses 
sion,  October  17,  1803,  and  no  other  member  was  better  known 
than  he  in  all  parts  of  the  Union.  He  took  his  seat  on  the 
majority  side,  to  the  victory  of  which  he  had  so  largely  con 
tributed.  In  looking  over  the  pages  of  Dennie's  Philadelphia 
Port  Folio,  the  leading  Federal  paper  after  Porcupine,  and  a 
great  improvement  on  Cobbett,  I  find  many  articles  on  the 
Democrats,  and  among  the  chiefs  of  the  party  the  name  of 
Lyon  frequently  occurs.  The  Federal  wits  out  of  a  job  had 
more  time  to  write  than  formerly,  and  Dennie,  the  "  Lay 
Preacher,"  prepared  quite  a  literary  melange  every  week,  bi 
ography,  travels,  poetry  and  a  modicum  of  spiteful  and  some- 
•  *"  Vermont  Governor  and  Council/'  II,  p.  50. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  439 

times  filthy  essays  on  politics  and  politicians.  A  rather  pedan 
tic  writer,  under  the  title  of  "Climenole,  A  Review  Political  and 
Literary,"  contributed  regular  essays  to  the  Port  Folio.  In  the 
seventh  number,  March  17,  1804,  occurs  the  following;  "I  see 
nothing  to  hinder  our  Jeffersons  and  Burrs,  our  Gallatins,  Liv 
ingstons  and  Lyons,  from  being  placed,  in  the  estimation  of 
future  ages,  on  the  same  floor  of  democratic  citizenship  with 
Cethegus  and  Cataline,  Spartacus,  Antony  and  Thersites. 
*  *  *  I  found  that  on  the  birthday  of  our  illustrious  Jeffer 
son,  as  also  on  that  of  Cethegus,  the  Hare  and  the  Hydra  were 
in  present  conjunction.  When  Burr  and  when  Cataline  came 
into  the  world,  the  fox  and  the  serpent  were  ascendant.  At  the 
moment  of  the  birth  of  Gallatin  and  Spartacus  the  heart  of  the 
scorpion  was  in  right  aspect  with  the  wolf's  jaw.  The  canis 
and  ursa  major  were  in  hostile  aspect  on  the  nativity  of  Ther 
sites  and  Matthew  Lyon;  while  on  that  of  Chancellor  Living 
ston  and  Mark  Antony  there  was  a  singular  coincidence  of  the 
star  in  the  eye  of  the  Bull,  with  that  under  the  Goat's  tail."a 

This  astrological  badinage  indicates  Lyon's  party  standing. 
Jefferson's  friendship  for  him  has  already  been  adverted  to  in 
these  pages.  Albert  Gallatin,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
Gideon  Granger,  Postmaster-General,  Nathaniel  Macon, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Senator 
Stevens  Thompson  Mason,  were  among  his  warmest  friends. 
John  Randolph,  leader  of  the  House,  in  his  celebrated  speech 
at  Charlotte  Court  House,  Virginia,  in  reply  to  Patrick  Henry, 
in  1799,  spoke  of  Lyon  in  the  following  terms: 

"At  this  moment,  while  I  am  addressing  you,  men  of  Char 
lotte,  with  the  free  air  of  heaven  fanning  my  locks — and  God 

0  Port  Folio,  March  17,  1804,  p.  82. 


440  MATTHEW   LYON 

knows  how  long  I  shall  be  permitted  to  enjoy  that  blessing — 
a  representative  of  the  people  of  Vermont — Matthew  Lyon 
his  name — lies  immured  in  a  dungeon,  not  six  feet  square, 
where  he  has  dragged  out  the  miserable  hours  of  a  protracted 
winter  for  daring  to  violate  the  royal  maxim  that  the  King 
can  do  no  wrong.  This  was  his  only  crime.  He  told  his  people, 
and  caused  it  to  be  printed  for  their  information,  that  the 
President,  rejecting  men  of  age,  experience,  wisdom,  and  inde 
pendency  of  sentiment,  appointed  those  who  had  no  other  merit 
but  devotion  to  their  master;  and  he  intimated  that  the  '  Presi 
dent  was  fond  of  ridiculous  pomp,  idle  parade,  and  selfish 
avarice.'  I  speak  the  language  of  the  indictment.  I  give  in 
technical  and  official  words  the  high  crime  with  which  he  was 
charged.  He  pleaded  justification — I  think  the  lawyers  call  it 
— and  offered  to  prove  the  truth  of  his  allegations. 

"  But  the  court  would  allow  no  time  to  procure  witnesses  or 
counsel ;  he  was  hurried  into  trial  all  unprepared ;  and  this  rep 
resentative  of  the  people,  for  speaking  the  truth  of  those  in 
authority,  was  arraigned  like  a  felon,  condemned,  fined  and 
imprisoned."a  Many  years  after,  when  Lyon  was  no  longer  in 
Congress,  he  petitioned  that  body  to  refund  his  fine,  and  again 
John  Randolph  denounced  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  and  ad 
vocated  the  passage  of  a  bill  granting  to  this  patriot,  who  had 
suffered  unjustly,  the  relief  he  sought.6  In  view  of  several 
savage  parliamentary  encounters  between  Lyon  and  Randolph, 
which  had  taken  place  previously  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  the 
conduct  of  the  Virginian  on  the  latter  occasion  was  not  only 
just,  but  singularly  magnanimous. 

«  Garland's  "  Life  of  John  Randolph,"  I,  p.  138. 
&"Aruials  of  i2th  Congress." 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  44! 

\Vlien  Randolph  went  into  opposition,  assailed  the  adminis 
tration,  and  organized  the  Quids,  there  were  three  men  to 
whom  Jefferson  severally  turned  to  take  his  place,  Nicholas, 
Wirt  and  Lyon,  any  one  of  whom  it  was  thought  might  be 
leader  of  the  House.  He  predicted  that  John  Randolph  would 
go  the  way  of  Charles  Fenton  Mercer,  first  out  of  party  lines, 
and  finally  while  pretending  to  dislike  the  Federalists 
as  much  as  ever,  he  would  be  merged  in  that  party,  and  at 
last  would  openly  affiliate  with  them.  Mercer  had  quietly 
passed  into  political  obscurity,  a  fate  which,  in  a  letter  to  Mon 
roe,  Jefferson  predicted  would  overtake  the  Knight  of 
Roanoke.  But  Jefferson  was  smarting  under  injuries  inflicted 
by  the  fiery  tongue  of  Randolph,  and  he  proved  a  poor  prophet 
in  consigning  him  to  such  an  ending.  The  truth  was,  which 
he  forgot  for  the  moment,  such  men  as  Jefferson  and  Randolph 
are  not  born  every  day,  and  whether  they  go  into  opposition 
or  are  sticklers  for  party  regularity,  they  draw  a  space  about  them, 
within  which  they  move  and  have  their  being,  a  sort  of  charmed 
circle,  inaccessible  to  ordinary  men,  and  from  which  they  cannot 
be  dislodged.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Randolph  was  not  extin 
guished,  but  as  Congressman,  in  which  position  the  men  of 
Charlotte  kept  him  as  long  as  he  wished  to  remain,  as  United 
States  Senator  by  the  choice  of  Virginia,  which  loved  him  and 
was  proud  of  him,  and  as  Ambassador  to  Russia  by  the  appoint 
ment  of  Andrew  Jackson,  who  knew  how  to  recognize  men 
according  to  their  merits,  John  Randolph  was  a  positive 
factor  all  his  life  in  the  national  councils,  and  in  the  estimation 
of  the  American  people.  Self-willed  and  wayward,  he  lost  his 
party  influence  after  1805,  but  he  continued  to  be  during  his 
whole  career  the  most  picturesque  figure  in  American  politics. 


442  MATTHEW  LYON 

When  Vice-President  Calhoun,  in  1826,  was  sharply  attacked 
by  John  Quincy  Adams,  President  of  the  United  States,  for 
not  calling  John  Randolph  to  order  in  the  Senate,  Calhoun 
made  this  reply:  "Who  is  Mr.  Randolph?  For  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  he  has  been  a  member  of  Congress,  and 
during  the  whole  time  his  character  has  remained  unchanged. 
Highly  talented,  eloquent,  severe,  and  eccentric;  always 
wandering  from  the  question,  but  often  uttering  wisdom 
worthy  of  a  Bacon,  and  wit  that  would  not  discredit  a  Sheridan ; 
every  Speaker  had  freely  indulged  him  in  his  peculiar  manner, 
and  none  more  freely  than  the  present  Secretary  of  State,  while 
he  presided  in  the  House  of  Representatives."0 

In  regard  to  Mr.  Nicholas,  he  was  a  very  good  debater  and 
a  well  equipped  representative,  but  he  was  not  forceful  as  a 
leader  of  men.  In  a  preceding  chapter  Mr.  Gallatin's  opinion 
of  him  is  given,  by  which  it  appears  he  was  a  pure  and  able 
gentleman,  but  hardly  the  person  to  lead  a  stormy  Congress. 
William  Wirt  was  a  fine  speaker  and  a  good  lawyer,  but  never 
displayed  qualities  necessary  to  a  successful  politician.  Colonel 
Lyon  was  of  a  different  mould,  and  came  nearer  to  the  require 
ments  of  the  position  than  either  Nicholas  or  Wirt.  He  was 
essentially  a  man  of  action,  accustomed  by  nature  and  habit  to 
control  men,  as  well  as  being  a  Democrat  of  long  experience 
and  courage  of  the  Andrew  Jackson  type. 

In  the  course  of  a  warm  discussion  of  the  celebrated  Georgia 
claims  in  the  House  on  the  loth  of  March,  1804,  speeches  were 
made  by  Caesar  A.  Rodney,  of  Delaware,  John  and  Thomas 

a  Letters  of  J.  Q.  Adams,  signed  "  Patrick  Henry,"  published  in  the 
National  Journal  in  1826,  and  of  J.  C.  Calhoun,  signed  "  Onslow." 
published  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  in  1826. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  443 

M.  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  and  Matthew  Lyon,  of  Kentucky. 
The  Yazoo  frauds  had  aroused  the  public  mind,  and  Messrs. 
Madison,  Gallatin  and  Lincoln,  Secretaries  of  State,  the  Treas 
ury  and  War,  as  Commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  had  heard  and  endeavored  to  settle  by  compromise  the 
claims  of  Georgia,  and  those  holding  under  the  Georgia  act  of 
1795,  to  the  vast  territory  in  dispute.  John  Randolph  had  de 
nounced  the  frauds  committed,  and  opposed  any  settlement  of 
the  Yazoo  controversy.  Lyon  on  the  contrary  wished  to  see 
the  country  settled,  and  the  compromise  on  the  basis  of  the 
report  of  Madison,  Gallatin  and  Lincoln  amicably  carried  out. 
After  he  finished  his  argument  in  reply  to  the  two  Randolphs 
and  Mr.  Rodney,  Mr.  James  Elliot  of  Vermont  took  the  floor, 
and  began  his  speech  in  this  language: 

"I  am  extremely  happy,  sir,  that  the  task  which  I  had  as 
signed  myself,  of  replying  to  the  speeches  of  the  gentlemen 
from  Virginia  and  Delaware,  has  been  anticipated  by  the  able, 
and  I  will  take  the  liberty  to  say,  unanswerable  speech  of  the 
gentleman  from  Kentucky.  If  the  destinies  of  the  American 
people  are  to  be  governed  by  the  counsels  of  an  individual;  if 
the  system  of  an  individual  is  to  be  adopted,  give  me  not  the 
system  of  the  gentleman  from  Delaware  (Mr.  Rodney),  or  that 
of  either  of  the  gentlemen  from  Virginia  (Mr.  John  Randolph 
or  Mr.  Thomas  M.  Randolph),  but  that  of  the  gentleman 
from  Kentucky  (Mr.  Lyon).  He  has  displayed  an  equal  su 
periority  in  argument  and  in  correctness  of  principle."" 

The  Yazoo  grants  undoubtedly  owed  their  inception  to  a 
gigantic  fraud,  no  less  than  the  bribery  and  purchase  of  a 
majority  of  the  Georgia  Legislature  in  1795,  by  which  the 

»"  Annals  of  Eighth  Congress"  (1803-4),  P-  1162. 


444  MATTHEW   LYON 

grants  became  legalized.  Innocent  third  parties  who  took 
title  under  that  law  had  rights  which  could  not  be  disregarded. 
John  Randolph,  then  a  boy,  was  on  a  visit  to  Georgia  at  the 
time  that  this  scandalous  law  was  passed,  and  shared  in  the 
indignation  of  the  people  of  that  State  against  the  legislative 
iniquity.  A  land  company  had  been  formed  to  protect  inno 
cent  purchasers,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Gideon  Granger, 
now  Postmaster-General.  Randolph's  rage  against  all  who 
had  part  or  parcel  in  the  Yazoo  business  embraced  Granger  in 
its  scope,  and  some  writer  has  compared  his  Yazoo  philippics 
to  those  of  Demosthenes  against  the  Macedonian.  This  ag 
gressive  assault  was  directed  against  all  members  of  Con 
gress,  especially  those  from  the  Eastern  States,  who  favored  a 
compromise,  and  he  did  not  spare  the  National  Commissioners, 
Madison,  Gallatin  and  Lincoln,  who  had  recommended  that 
such  compromise  on  the  concession  of  five  millions  only,  out 
of  forty  millions  of  acres,  should  be  made  in  favor  of  innocent, 
bona  fide  purchasers  under  the  Georgia  law.  Matthew  Lyon 
favored  the  compromise.  Some  irritation  was  created  among 
the  Eastern  members  of  Congress  by  Mr.  Randolph's  fierce 
invectives.  His  barbed  arrows  flew  in  every  direction,  and  a 
few  members  went  so  far  in  their  complaints  as  to  hold  Mr. 
Jefferson  responsible  for  Randolph,  who  was  still  chairman  of 
the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  and  therefore,  regarded  as 
the  mouthpiece  of  the  administration.  His  attacks  on  the 
Cabinet  ought  to  have  silenced  such  complaints,  but  they  did 
not,  and  the  Federalists,  observing  the  family  quarrel  among 
the  Democrats,  were  not  slow  to  add  fuel  to  the  flame.  Fisher 
Ames's  organ,  the  Boston  Repertory,  the  ablest  of  the  Essex 
Junto  papers,  was  extremely  busy  at  this  period  in  agitating 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  445 

and  promoting  the  dissensions.  Those  among  the  Democrats 
who  complained  of  Randolph's  personalities  were  compli 
mented  as  spirited,  independent  men,  and  no  one  came  in  for 
so  large  a  share  of  unexpected  encomiums  as  Matthew  Lyon, 
who  had  been  writing  several  pretty  sharp  letters  to  the  Ken 
tucky  Palladium  against  the  "dog-in-the-manger"  policy  of  the 
Virginia  party,  by  which  he  meant  John  Randolph. 

Politics  make  strange  bed-fellows.  Saturnian  times  seemed 
to  have  returned,  and  the  lion  and  the  lamb  to  be  lying  down 
together.  Matthew  Lyon  and  Roger  Griswold,  on  this  measure, 
were  acting  and  voting  on  the  same  side,  and  the  stern  Ken 
tucky  Democrat,  whom  the  Federalists  had  been  vilifying  for 
so  many  years,  was  rapidly  becoming  a  "bigger  man"  than  the 
Knight  of  Roanoke,  a  true  hero  in  their  eyes,  who  would  no 
longer  submit,  even  to  please  his  favorite,  Jefferson,  to  the 
lash  of  a  Virginia  aristocrat.  If  Matthew  Lyon  was  a  reader 
of  Virgil,  he  must  have  thought  of  those  words  of  the  Man- 
tuan  bard,  "  I  fear  the  Greeks  bringing  presents/'  Others  no 
doubt  recalled  them,  and  Hildreth  informs  us  that  "Randolph 
complained  bitterly — and  it  was  a  curious  instance  of  political 
mutation — that  Lyon  and  Griswold,  who  had  once  come  into 
such  fierce  collision,  should  now  be  united  against  the  leader 
of  the  Republicans  in  the  House."0  In  the  course  of  the  de 
bate  Randolph  declared  "we  have  had  to  contend  against  the 
bear  of  the  arctic  and  the  lion  of  the  torrid  zone."  This  was 
perhaps  a  sarcastic  slap  at  the  Postmaster-General  and  Colonel 
Lyon.  "He  poured  out,"  says  Hildreth,  "a  torrent  of  abuse  on 
Granger,  agent  of  the  claimants,  whom  he  accused  of  bribing 
members.  Nor  did  Madison,  Gallatin  and  Lincoln,  who,  as 
«  Hildreth's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  2d  series,  II,  p.  542. 


'446  MATTHEW  LYON 

Commissioners,  had  recommended  a  compromise  of  the  claims, 
entirely  escape.  Granger  thought  it  necessary  to  send  a  letter 
to  the  House,  asking  an  investigation  into  his  conduct —  a  re 
quest  which  was  got  rid  of  by  a  postponement.  "a 

The  reader  of  a  former  chapter  of  this  book  has  become  aware 
of  the  treatment  and  language,  unprecedented  in  violence,  to 
which  the  Federalists  had  subjected  Colonel  Lyon.  But 
a  better  acquaintance  with  him  revealed  the  true  character  of 
the  man,  his  ability,  defiant  rectitude,  powers  as  a  debater,  and 
downright  honesty  and  courage.  Every  one  of  them  who  had 
voted  for  his  expulsion  and  who  still  remained  in  Congress, 
with  the  solitary  exception  of  Dana,  of  Connecticut,  not  only 
became  reconciled  to  Lyon,  but  had  offered  to  him  ample 
apologies  for  his  former  harsh  conduct.  I  have  before  me  an 
original  letter  of  Col.  Lyon  to  President  Monroe,  dated  June 
7,  1817,  in  which  particular  reference  to  this  subject  is  made. 
Of  the  Federalists  he  says :  "Mr.  Bayard,  their  champion,  who 
took  the  lead  in  persecuting  me,  through  Mr.  John  Rowan, 
solicited  an  interview  with  me,  in  order  to  acknowledge  to  me 
his  regret  for  having  mistaken  my  character  and  joined  in  a 
preposterous  persecution  against  me.  To  this  solicitation  I 
yielded,  taking  with  me  Mr.  Russell  and  two  other  Republican 
members  from  New  York  State.  In  their  presence,  in  the 
presence  of  Mr.  Rowan,  and  of  the  principal  Federal  members 
of  Congress,  Mr  Bayard  repeated  his  professions  of  regret  for 
his  former  conduct  toward  me,  of  his  esteem  for  me,  and  of  his 
desire  to  be  on  terms  of  amity  with  me,  until  all  present  ex 
claimed  that  I  ought  to  be  satisfied.  Mr.  Bayard  was  the  last 
of  a  considerable  number  of  those  who  voted  for  my  ex- 

"Ibid.,  p.  542. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  447 

pulsion,  and  had  made  to  me  the  amende  honorable,  previous 
to  which  I  did  not  speak  with  them  unless  the  public  business 
required  it.  Mr.  Dana  was  the  only  member  in  either  House 
when  I  left  Congress  who  had  not  gone  through  this  cere 
mony  of  those  who  had  voted  for  my  expulsion." 

If  the  Federalists  hoped  to  profit  by  the  Yazoo  scandal 
they  were  destined  to  a  bitter  disappointment.  Jefferson  was 
re-elected  President  by  a  vote  so  overwhelming  that  it  ap 
proached  unanimity.  Even  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire, 
Rhode  Island  and  Vermont  joined  the  Democratic  or  Republi 
can  column,  and  every  State  in  the  Union,  except  Connecticut 
and  Delaware,  voted  for  Jefferson  and  Clinton.  The  electoral 
votes  stood  162  to  14,  Maryland  having  contributed  2  of  the 
14  Federal  votes  in  the  electoral  colleges.  "This,"  groans  Hil- 
dreth,  "was  the  whole  of  the  lean  minority,  fourteen  in  all, 
which  the  Federalists  were  able  to  muster."a  Before  the  elec 
tion  Jefferson  wrote  to  Elbridge  Gerry,  and  said:  "I  sincerely 
regret  that  the  unbounded  calumnies  of  the  Federal  party  have 
obliged  me  to  throw  myself  on  the  verdict  of  my  country  for 
trial,  my  great  desire  having  been  to  retire,  at  the  end  of  the 
present  term,  to  a  life  of  tranquillity;  and  it  was  my  decided 
purpose  when  I  entered  into  office.  They  force  my  continu 
ance.  If  we  can  keep  the  vessel  of  State  as  steadily  in  her 
course  for  another  four  years,  my  earthly  purposes  will  be  ac 
complished,  and  I  shall  be  free  to  enjoy,  as  you  are  doing,  my 
family,  my  farm,  and  my  books."6 

Mr.  Granger  had  spoken  to  the  President  respecting  a 
rumored  coalition  between  the  Federalists  and  dissatisfied  Re- 


Ibid.,  p.  532. 

"  Works  of  Jefferson,"  IV,  536. 


448  MATTHEW   LYON 

publicans  in  the  Eastern  States.  In  referring  to  this  rumor, 
Jefferson  said  in  a  letter  to  Granger:  "The  idea  was  new  to  me. 
*  *  *  The  Federalists  know,  that  eo  nomine,  they  are  gone 
forever.  *  *  *  I  cannot  believe  any  portion  of  real 
Republicans  will  enter  into  this  trap;  and  if  they  do, 
I  do  not  believe  they  can  carry  with  them  the  mass 
of  their  States.  It  will  be  found  in  this,  as  in  all 
other  similar  cases,  that  crooked  schemes  will  end  by  over 
whelming  their  authors  and  coadjutors  in  disgrace."*  His 
confidence  was  not  misplaced,  as  the  astonishing  vote  by  which 
he  was  re-elected  showed.  Yet  the  calm,  farseeing  President 
was  not  inattentive  to  the  divisions  in  Congress  among  the 
Democrats,  and  he  sought,  without  giving  just  cause  of  offense 
to  Mr.  Randolph,  whom  Speaker  Macon  had  re-appointed 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  to  conciliate 
the  good  will  of  other  Democrats  in  whose  integrity  and  sound 
principles  he  had  confidence.  On  the  I7th  of  January,  1806, 
the  President  sent  for  Barnabas  Bidwell,  a  Democratic  member 
from  Massachusetts,  and  intrusted  to  him  a  secret  message 
which  resulted  in  the  passage  of  a  bill,  appropriating  two  mil 
lions  of  dollars  for  "extraordinary  expenses  of  foreign  inter 
course."  The  object  was  the  purchase  of  the  Floridas,  and  as 
France  controlled  Spain,  the  money  was  to  be  used  in  the  dis 
cretion  of  the  Executive,  very  probably  for  the  most  part  in 
France.  Mr.  Randolph,  already  irritated  by  his  differences 
with  Gideon  Granger,  the  Postmaster-General,  and  displeased 
at  the  selection  by  the  President  of  Mr.  Bidwell  on  the  present 
occasion  for  the  communication  of  a  confidential  message 
which  would  involve  an  appropriation  of  money,  was  disposed 
"Ibid.,  pp.  542-3. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  449 

to  regard  it  as  a  slight  to  himself  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Ways  and  Means.  Strictly  speaking  it  was  not  as  friendly  a 
course  as  the  President  had  formerly  adopted,  but  whether  Mr. 
Randolph  himself  was  not  responsible  for  this  extension  of 
confidence  to  another  member,  instead  of  to  himself,  it  perhaps 
might  not  be  easy  to  deny.  "  I  reprobated  "  said  the  angry 
Randolph  a  short  time  after,  "this  back-stair  influence.  I  had 
always  flattered  myself  that  it  would  be  a  thousand  years  hence 
before  our  institutions  would  have  given  birth  to  these  Charles 
Jenkinsons  in  politics."  The  breach  now  was  irreparable. 
Randolph  became  the  censor  of  the  administration,  as  he  had 
long  been  the  schoolmaster  of  the  House.  Jefferson  had  left 
it  to  Congress  to  fix  the  amount  of  the  appropriation  for  "ex 
traordinary  expenses"  in  dealing  with  Spain  and  France.  Ran 
dolph  made  that  the  formal  ground  of  his  opposition,  although 
he  had  done  precisely  the  same  thing  Jefferson  now  asked  two 
years  before  in  the  Louisiana  purchase.  He  charged  dissimu 
lation  and  cowardice  on  the  President.  Some  of  his  speeches 
at  this  time  are  fine  bursts  of  eloquence,  but  they  have  been 
forgotten  because  the  groundwork  was  not  inherently  strong, 
and  the  logic  of  facts  was  against  him. 

He  had  inspired  fear  among  the  members  by  the  bitter  irony 
of  his  wit,  and  the  audacity  with  which  he  exercised  it  upon 
those  who  crossed  his  path.  Matthew  Lyon  was  quite  as  fear 
less  and  audacious  a  man  when  once  started  as  Randolph  him 
self,  and  it  was  not  long  before  it  became  very  probable  that 
these  two  interesting  and  original  characters  would  clash.  If 
Randolph  now  drew  the  sword  and  threw  away  the  scabbard 
to  enter  the  lists  against  Jefferson,  Lyon  with  still  more  fearful 


45O  MATTHEW   LYON 

odds  against  him  had  defied  John  Adams  in  the  meridian  of  his 
power. 

The  defection  of  the  leader  of  the  House  left  his  mantle  to 
be  worn  by  a  new  aspirant,  if  one  might  appear.  The  truth  of 
history  compels  the  admission  that  no  one  took  his  place,  be 
cause  there  was  no  one  qualified  to  take  it.  In  administration 
circles  Col.  Lyon  was  looked  to  as  the  Hector  to  defend  the 
citadel  from  the  new  enemy,  and  evidences  are  not  wanting  of 
his  close  relations  with  the  President  and  Cabinet.  Aaron 
Burr,  the  late  Vice-President,  whose  lynx-eyed  shrewdness  al 
lowed  but  little  that  was  passing  to  escape  his  observation,  was 
aware  of  Lyon's  influence,  and  he  sought  his  friendly  offices  to 
secure  from  Mr.  Jefferson  a  foreign  embassy.  He  first  pro 
cured  General  Wilkinson  to  sound  Col.  Lyon  on  this  subject, 
who  assured  the  General  that  Burr  could  not  obtain  an  em 
bassy,  but  that  he  might  be  elected  to  a  seat  in  Congress  from 
Tennessee.  Burr  not  satisfied  with  Wilkinson's  effort,  made  the 
attempt  in  person  to  enlist  Lyon  in  his  support.  "In  the  winter 
of  1805,"  says  General  Wilkinson,  "while  Burr  and  myself  were 
both  in  the  city  of  Washington,  I  anxiously  wished  him  to  be 
appointed  to  some  foreign  embassy.  My  views  are  fully  dis 
closed  in  the  deposition  of  Colonel  Lyon."0  On  the  25th  of 
February,  1811,  Lyon  testified  before  the  Congressional  Com 
mittee,  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  General  Wil 
kinson,  and  from  his  deposition  the  following  is  an  extract: 

"Some  time  in  the  winter,  1805,  coming  one  morning  from 
Alexandria,  by  way  of  the  Navy  Yard,  and  passing  by  the 
house  where  the  General  (Wilkinson)  lived,  he  called  on  me  to 

»  "  Memoirs  of  My  Own  Times,"  by  General  James  Wilkinson,  II, 
p.  280. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  45! 

come  in;  after  congratulating  him  on  his  appointment  as  Gov 
ernor,  and  some  other  conversation,  Colonel  Burr's  name  was 
mentioned.  .Colonel  Burr  had  no  claim  to  friendly  attentions 
from  me.  I  had  no  acquaintance  with  him  before  the  contest 
concerning  the  Presidential  election.  I  had  resisted  the  solici 
tations  of  my  friends,  who  wished  to  introduce  me  to  him  in 
March,  1801,  on  account  of  his  misconduct  in  that  affair. 

*  *     *     The  General  entered  warmly  into  his  praise,  and 
talked  of  a  foreign  embassy  for  him.     This,  I  assured  him, 
could  not  be  obtained.    *    *    *  He  informed  me  he  had,  at  Col 
onel  Burr's  request,  made  an  appointment  for  me  to  call  on  him. 

*  *     *     I  called.     *     *     *     Colonel  Burr    *     *     *     said 
he    was    very    glad    to    see    me."       The    witness    detailed 
his    conversation    with    Burr,    and    continued:    "In    stat 
ing  this  conversation,  I  give  the  substance  of  all  the  other 
conversations  I  had  that  winter  with  Col.  Burr  at  Washington, 
except  that  in  some  of  them  the  embassy  was  talked  of.    He 
observed  that  my  friend  Wilkinson  thought    I    would  be    a 
proper  person,  in  a  blunt  way,  to  mention  it  to  the  President. 
He  asked  me,  if  I  dared  to  tell  the  President  that  he  ought  to 
send  Col.  Burr  on  the  foreign  embassy  talked  of?    I  told  him 
very  bluntly,  I  would  not."a 

In  the  letter  to  President  Monroe,  already  referred  to,  Col. 
Lyon  gives  an  interesting  account  of  an  interview  between 
himself  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Albert  Gallatin,  in 
relation  to  Governor  Claiborne.  It  throws  no  little  light  upon 
the  value  attached  to  Lyon's  judgment  by  President  Jefferson 

<*  Col.  M.  Lyon's  deposition  before  the  committee  appointed  by 
Congress  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  General  Wilkinson.  "  Me 
moirs  of  My  Own  Times,"  by  General  Wilkinson,  II,  Appendix, 
LXVIII.  Deposition  given  in  full  posted. 


452  MATTHEW  LYON 

and  Mr.  Gallatin.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  letter: 
"In  the  phalanx  of  Republican  Senators  will  appear  next  win 
ter  my  friend,  Governor  Claiborne,  who  is  warmly  attached  to 
me.  *  *  *  He  was  once  in  imminent  political  danger.  I 
called  at  Mr.  Gallatin's  office  one  morning  in  the  spring  after  we: 
had  obtained  New  Orleans.  He  looked  very  much  disturbed. 
He  inquired  if  I  had  heard  how  Qaiborne  had  been  playing 
the  devil  at  Orleans.  'He  had  ruined  himself,  he  had  forfeited 
his  station,  he  had  been  guilty  of  the  most  unpardonable  impro 
priety.  I  have  just  come  from  the  President,  who  is  provoked 
to  the  highest  pitch  against  Claiborne,  who  by  a  legislative  act 

of  his  own  has  created  a  bank  of dollars  capital, 

and  for years  duration.    The  act  must  be  disavowed, 

and  he  discarded  for  the  attempt.  I  had  made  arrangements 
for  the  establishment  of  a  branch  of  the  bank  of  the  United 
States  there,  and  it  is  understood  by  the  directors  that  no  other 
bank  is  to  be  allowed  there/  Thus  raved  the  cool,  the  de 
liberate  Mr.  Gallatin,  while  the  rash,  the  inconsiderate  M.  Lyon 
begged  of  him  calmly  to  reflect  on  the  real  nature  of  the  charge 
against  Claiborne.  I  insisted  that  whether  the  act  was  prudent 
or  otherwise,  the  Governor  had  not  exceeded  his  powers,  and  it 
being  a  grant  to  individuals,  an  attempt  to  rescind  it  would  be 
disgraceful,  and  cause  disagreeable  irritation.  I  told  him  what 
ever  the  Executive  thought  proper  to  do  with  Claiborne,  they 
must  let  the, bank  alone;  there  will  soon  be  business  for  both 
banks  in  that  important  town.  I  recollected  putting  my  letters 
unopened  at  the  Post  Office  in  my  pocket.  On  examining  the 
bundle  I  found  one  from  James  Lyon,  then  at  New  Orleans, 
explaining  the  business,  and  soliciting  my  good  offices  with  the 
Executive  if  necessary.  Mr.  Gallatin  read  it,  and  returned  im- 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  453 

mediately  to  the  President.     Claiborne's  sentence  was  miti 
gated  to  a  reproof." 

So  early  as  October,  1804,  Randolph  grew  restive  under  the 
increasing  evidence  of  Lyon's  unwillingness  to  submit  to  be 
led  by  him,  and  on  this  very  subject  of  Qaiborne  and  his  New 
Orleans  bank  Randolph  urged  that  Qaiborne  should  be 
cashiered.  On  the  I4th  of  that  month  he  wrote  from  Bizarre 
to  Gallatin,  and  said :  "On  the  subject  of  Louisiana  you  are  also 
apprised  that  my  sentiments  coincide  with  your  own ;  and  it  is 
principally  because  of  that  coincidence  that  I  rely  upon  their 
correctness.  But  as  we  have  the  misfortune  to  differ  from  that 
great  political  luminary,  Mr.  Matthew  Lyon,  on  this  as  well 
as  on  most  other  points,  I  doubt  whether  we  shall  not  be  over 
powered."  Claiborne's  retention  would  seem  to  show  he  was 
overpowered,  and  it  did  not  increase  his  love  for  Lyon.  A  few 
months  later  when  the  Yazoo  question  was  again  under  dis 
cussion  in  the  House,  Randolph's  pent  up  rage  against  Gran 
ger  and  Lyon  burst  all  bounds,  and  he  made  one  of  the  most 
furious  attacks  on  them  both  ever  witnessed  in  Congress.  He 
did  not  spare  even  Gallatin  himself.  Henry  Adams,  who  never 
loses  an  opportunity  to  vent  his  hereditary  spite  on  Mr.  Ran 
dolph,  says :  "With  the  malignity  of  a  bully  he  attacked  Gideon 
Granger,  the  Postmaster-General,  who  could  not  answer  him, 
and  he  only  met  his  match  in  Matthew  Lyon,  whose  old  ex 
perience  now,  to  the  delight  of  the  Federalists,  enabled  him 
to  meet  Randolph  with  a  torrent  of  personal  abuse,  and  to  tell 
him  that  he  was  a  jackal  and  a  madman  with  the  face  of  a 
monkey."®  Mr.  Adams  did  not  like  Mr.  Randolph,  and  omits 


•  "  Life  of  Albert  Gallatin,"  p.  329. 


454  MATTHEW    LYON 

his  attack  from  the  account  he  gives  of  the  quarrel,  in  his  Life 
of  Gallatin.     I  subjoin  it  here : 

"A  few  evenings  since,"  said  Randolph  in  his  onslaught  on 
Lyon,  "a  profitable  contract  for  carrying  the  mail  was  offered 
to  a  friend  of  mine  who  is  a  member  of  this  House.  You  must 
know,  sir,  that  the  person  so  often  alluded  to  maintains  a 
jackal,  fed,  not  as  you  would  suppose,  upon  the  offal  of  con-, 
tract,  but  with  the  fairest  pieces  in  the  shambles;  and  at  night, 
when  honest  men  are  in  bed,  does  this  obscene  animal  prowl 
through  the  streets  of  this  vast  and  desolate  city,  seeking  whom 
he  may  tamper  with.  Well,  sir,  when  this  worthy  plenipoten 
tiary  had  made  his  proposal,  in  due  form,  the  independent  man 
to  whom  it  was  addressed  saw  at  once  its  drift.  'Tell  your  prin 
cipal/  said  he,  'that  I  will  take  his  contract,  but  I  shall  vote 
against  the  Yazoo  claim,  notwithstanding/  Next  day,  he  was 
told  there  had  been  some  misunderstanding  of  the  business, 
that  he  could  not  have  the  contract,  as  it  was  previously  be 
spoken  by  another."* 

Lyon  the  next  day  paid  his  respects  to  Randolph  by  the  fol 
lowing  retort: 

"The  Postmaster-General  has  not  lost  my  esteem,  nor  do  I 
think  his  character  can  be  injured  by  the  braying  of  a  jackal, 
or  the  fulminations  of  a  madman.  But,  sir,  permit  me  to  inquire 
from  whom  these  charges  of  bribery,  of  corruption,  and  of  rob 
bery,  come?  Is  it  from  one  who  has  for  forty  years,  in  one  ' 
shape  or  other,  been  intrusted  with  the  property  and  concerns 
of  other  people,  and  has  never  wanted  for  confidence,  one 
whose  long  and  steady  practice  of  industry,  integrity,  and  well 
doing,  has  obtained  for  him  his  standing  on  this  floor?  Is  it 

o  "  Annals  of  Eighth  Congress  "  (1804-5),  p.  1106. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  455 

from  one  who  sneered  with  contempt  on  the  importunity  with 
which  he  was  solicited  to  set  a  price  on  the  important  vote  he 
held  in  the  last  Presidential  election?  No,  sir,  these  charges 
have  been  fabricated  in  the  disordered  imagination  of  a  young 
man  whose  pride  has  been  provoked  by  my  refusing  to  sing  en 
core  to  all  his  political  dogmas.  I  have  had  the  impudence  to 
differ  from  him  in  some  few  points,  and  some  few  times  to 
neglect  his  fiat.  It  is  long  since  I  have  observed  that  the  very 
sight  of  my  plebeian  face  has  had  an  unpleasant  effect  on  the 
gentleman's  nose,  for  out  of  respect  to  this  House  and  to  the 
State  he  represents,  I  will  yet  occasionally  call  him  gentleman. 
I  say,  sir,  these  charges  have  been  brought  against  me  by  a 
person  nursed  in  the  bosom  of  opulence,  inheriting  the  life 
services  of  a  numerous  train  of  the  human  species,  and  extensive 
fields,  the  original  proprietors  of  which  property,  in  all  prob 
ability,  came  no  honester  by  it  than  the  purchasers  of  the 
Georgia  lands  did  by  what  they  claim.  Let  that  gentleman  apply 
the  fable  of  the  thief  and  the  receiver,  in  Dilworth's  Spelling 
Book,  so  ingeniously  quoted  by  himself,  in  his  own  case,  and 
give  up  the  stolen  men  in  his  possession.  I  say,  sir,  these 
charges  have  come  from  a  person  whose  fortune,  leisure  and 
genius  have  enabled  him  to  obtain  a  great  share  of  the  wis 
dom  of  the  schools,  but  who  in  years,  experience,  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  world  and  the  ways  of  man,  is  many,  many 
years  behind  those  he  implicates — a  person  who,  from  his  rant 
in  this  House,  seems  to  have  got  his  head  as  full  of  British  con 
tracts  and  British  modes  of  corruption  as  ever  Don  Quixote's 
was  supposed  to  have  been  of  chivalry,  enchantments  and 
knight  errantry — a  person  who  seems  to  think  no  man  can  be 
honest  and  independent  unless  he  has  inherited  land  and 


456  MATTHEW    LYON 

negroes,  nor  is  he  willing  to  allow  a  man  to  vote  in  the  people's 
elections  unless  he  is  a  landholder. 

"I  can  tell  that  gentleman  I. am  as  far  from  offering  or  re 
ceiving  a  bribe  as  he  or  any  other  member  on  this  floor;  it  is  a 
charge  which  no  man  ever  made  against  me  before  him,  who 
from  his  insulated  situation,  unconversant  with  the  world,  is 
perhaps  as  little  acquainted  with  my  character  as  any  member 
of  this  House,  or  almost  any  man  in  the  nation,  and  I  do  most 
cordially  believe  that,  had  my  back  and  my  mind  been  supple 
enough  to  rise  and  fall  with  his  motions,  I  should  have  escaped 
his  censure. 

"I,  sir,  have  none  of  that  pride  which  sets  men  above  being 
merchants  and  dealers;  the  calling  of  a  merchant  is,  in  my 
opinion,  equally  dignified,  and  no  more  than  equally  dignified 
with  that  of  a  farmer,  or  a  manufacturer.  I  have  a  great  part 
of  my  life  been  engaged  in  all  the  stations  of  merchant,  farmer 
and  manufacturer,  in  which  I  have  honestly  earned  and  lost  a 
great  deal  of  property,  in  the  character  of  a  merchant.  I  act 
like  other  merchants,  look  out  for  customers  with  whom  I  can 
make  bargains  advantageous  to  both  parties ;  it  is  all  the  same 
to  me  whether  I  contract  with  an  individual  or  the  public ;  I  see 
no  constitutional  impediment  to  a  member  of  this  House  serv 
ing  the  public  for  the  same  reward  the  public  gives  another. 
Whenever  my  constituents  or  myself  think  I  have  contracts  in 
consistent  with  my  duties  as  a  member  of  this  House,  I  will 
retire  from  it. 

"I  came  to  this  House  as  a  representative  of  a  free,  a  brave, 
and  a  generous  people.  I  thank  my  Creator  that  He  gave  me 
the  face  of  a  man,  not  that  of  an  ape  or  a  monkey,  and  that  He 
gave  me  the  heart  of  a  man  also,  a  heart  which  will  spare  to  its 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  457 

last  drop  in  defence  of  the  dignity  of  the  station  my  generous 
constituents  have  placed  me  in.  I  shall  trouble  the  House  no 
farther  at  this  time,  than  by  observing  that  I  shall  not  be  de 
terred  by  the  threats  of  the  member  from  Virginia  from  giving 
the  vote  I  think  the  interest  and  honor  of  the  nation  require; 
and  by  saying  if  that  member  means  to  be  understood  that  I 
have  offered  contracts  from  the  Postmaster-General,  the  asser 
tion  or  insinuation  has  no  foundation  in  truth,  and  I  challenge 
him  to  bring  forward  his  boasted  proof."* 

Had  Col.  Lyon  lived  long  enough,  he  would  not  only  have 
beheld  John  Randolph  nobly  acting  on  his  blunt  advice  by 
emancipating  all  his  hundreds  of  slaves,  but  John  G.  Whittier, 
the  poet  of  the  Abolitionists,  chanting  songs  of  praise  to  his 
philanthropy  in  the  following  strain: 

"  Bard,  Sage  and  Tribune!  —  in  himself 
All  moods  of  mind  contrasting, 
The  tenderest  wail  of  human  woe, 
The  scorn-like  lightning  blasting; 
The  pathos  which  from  rival  eyes 
Unwilling  tears  could  summon, 
The  stinging  taunt,  the  fiery  burst 
Of  hatred  scarcely  human! 

Mirth  sparkling  like  a  diamond  shower 
From  lips  of  life-long  sadness; 
Clear  picturings  of  majestic  thought 
Upon  a  ground  of  madness; 
And  over  all  Romance  and  Song 
A  classic  beauty  throwing, 
And  laurelled  Clio  at  his  side 
Her  storied  pages  showing. 

All  parties  feared  him;  each  in  turn 

Beheld  its  schemes  disjointed, 

As  right  or  left  his  fatal  glance 

And  spectral  finger  pointed. 

Sworn  foe  of  Cant,  he  smote  it  down 

With  trenchant  wit   unsparing, 

And,  mocking,  rent  with  ruthless  hand 

The  robe  Pretence  was  wearing. 


"  Annals  of  Eighth  Congress"  (1804-5),  PP-  1125-1126. 


458  MATTHEW    LYON 

He  held  his  slaves;  yet  kept  the  while 
His  reverence  for  the  Human; 
In  the  dark  vassals  of  his  will 
He  saw  but  Man  and  Woman! 
No  hunter  of  God's  outraged  poor 
His  Roanoke  valley  entered; 
No  trader  in  the  souls  of  men 
Across  his  threshold  ventured. 

And  when  the  old  and  wearied  man 
Lay  down  for  his  last  sleeping, 
And  at  his  side,  a  slave  no  more, 
His  brother-man  stood  weeping, 
His  latest  thought,  his  latest  breath, 
To  Freedom's  duty  giving, 
With  failing  tongue  and  trembling  hand 
The  dying  blest  the  living." 

The  above  speech  of  Lyon  is  much  stronger  than  the  apoc 
ryphal  one  attributed  at  a  later  date  to  Tristam  Burgess.  I 
have  searched  the  records  carefully  and  find  no  such  speech 
there,  and  do  not  believe  any  such  was  ever  made  in  Congress 
as  that  ascribed  to  Tristam  Burgess  against  John  Randolph. 
Mr.  Burgess  was  addicted  to  making  up  or  padding  remarks 
which  took  five  minutes  to  utter  in  Congress  into  long  printed 
pamphlets  in  Rhode  Island,  which  would  have  taken  hours  to 
deliver  in  the  House.  He  was  charged  with  this  by  George  Mc- 
Duffie  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  and  an  appeal  to  the  record  of 
debates  confirmed  the  charge.  Randolph's  alleged  reply  to 
Burgess  is,  of  course,  purely  fictitious.  But  Matthew  Lyon's 
retort  and  Randolph's  attack  which  provoked  it  were  made  and 
are  in  the  Annals  of  Congress,  and  created  great  excitement  at 
Washington  when  they  were  delivered.  Lemuel  Sawyer,  a 
member  of  Congress  at  the  time,  relates  an  amusing  anecdote 
in  his  "  Biography  of  John  Randolph,"  which  I  subjoin: 

"Upon  the  eve  of  adjournment,  he  (Randolph)  went  up  to 
Mr.  Quincy  to  take  his  farewell.  *  *  *  In  passing  out  of  the 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  459 

Hall  with  his  friend  Garnett  he  encountered  near  the  door  a 
Lyon  (Matthew,  of  Kentucky),  and  offered  him  his  hand. 
Mr.  Lyon  drew  back,  and  observed  that  he  could  not  find  it 
in  his  heart  to  shake  hands  with  Mr.  Randolph,  because  he  had 

called  him  'a  d d  old  rascal/     Mr.  Randolph  appealed  to 

Mr.  Garnett,  who  confirmed  Mr.  Lyon's  statement,  and  Mr. 
Randolph  replying,  'it  can't  be  helped/  departed  without  ex 
changing  the  farewell  with  him/'0 

The  situation  of  affairs,  with  the  world  given  over  to  two 
freebooters,  England  and  France,  had  now  become  des 
perate.  The  Orders  in  Council  and  the  Berlin  Decree  had  made 
the  United  States  on  the  ocean  the  plaything  of  Napoleon  and 
the  Mephistophelian  Canning.  John  Randolph  was  in  revolt, 
and  Lyon  could  have  been  leader  of  the  House,  if  the  words 
of  Jefferson  in  a  letter,  February  28,  1807,  to  Wilson  Cary 
Nicholas,  had  not  been  exactly  true.  "There  is  no  one  whose 
talents  and  standing,  taken  together,  have  weight  enough  to 
give  him  the  lead/'*  There  is  not  a  doubt  Lyon's  "talents" 
were  ample,  but  owing  to  himself  his  "standing"  was  more  than 
doubtful.  Like  Henry  Clay,  he  had  become  a  disciple  of  the 
protective  doctrines  of  Matthew  Carey,  doctrines  which  Jeffer 
son  called  heretical  to  the  end  of  his  life.  Indeed,  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  before,  in  the  year  1785,  Col.  Lyon  sowed 
the  germs  of  high  tariffs  in  the  Assembly  of  Vermont.  I  quote 
from  its  Journal:  "Duty  on  Nails  proposed  and  dismissed. 
In  Assembly,  October  17  (1785).  A  petition  signed  by  Mat 
thew  Lyon,  praying  that  a  duty  of  two  pence  pr.  pound  might 
be  laid  on  all  nails  brought  into  this  State,  which  would  be  a 

0  "  A  Biography  of  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke,"  by  Lemuel  Sawyer, 
New  York,  1844,  p.  47- 

&"  Jefferson's  Works,"  V,  48. 


460  MATTHEW    LYON 

sufficient  encouragement  for  him  to  build  a  slitting  mill,  was 
read  and  dismissed.""  And  the  following  comment  on  this 
proposal  is  made  by  the  observant  editor  of  the  Historical  So 
ciety  Collections  of  the  same  State:  "Lyon,  on  another  occa 
sion  asked  for  the  exclusive  right,  for  the  term  of  eighteen 
years,  of  splitting  bar-iron  into  nail-rods,  which  was  not 
granted.  Here  are  germs  of  the  protective  policy  afterwards 
adopted  by  Congress  in  tariffs  and  patent  laws."b  Lyon  had 
been  encouraged  by  the  passage  in  the  Assembly,  four  days 
earlier,  of  an  act  authorizing  the  State,  on  his  petition,  to  sell 
to  him  broken  cannon,  mortars,  etc.,  at  Mount  Independence, 
to  be  used  in  making  bar-iron,  to  come  forward  with  the  hap 
pily  ineffectual  prayer  to  lay  a  duty  on  nails.  There  were  Jeffer- 
sonian  Democrats  in  the  Vermont  Assembly,  even  in  those 
primitive  days.  Jefferson  was  at  a  loss  to  account  for  Henry 
Clay's  hostility  to  himself  in  1807.  Clay,  before  this  time, 
thought  Jefferson  a  persecutor,  an  opinion  into  which  he  had 
been  duped  by  Aaron  Burr,  and  which  deception  he  afterwards 
resented  by  refusing  Burr  his  hand  when  they  met  in  New 
York.  But  apart  from  this,  Harry  of  the  West  was  already  so 
enamored  by  Mathew  Carey's  paternalism  in  government  that 
in  1807  he  offered  resolutions  in  the  United  States  Senate 
which  were  adopted,  calling  on  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
"  to  prepare  and  report  to  the  Senate  at  their  next  session,  a 
plan  for  the  application  of  such  means  as  are  within  the  power 
of  Congress,  to  the  purposes  of  opening  roads  and  making 
canals;  together  with  a  statement  of  undertakings  of  that 
nature  which,  as  objects  of  public  improvement,  may  require  and 

a  "  Vermont  Assembly  Journal,"  II,  519- 

a  "  Collections  of  the  Vermont  Historical  Society,"  II,  pp.  428-429. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  461 

deserve  the  aid  of  government."*1  Mathew  Carey,  in  his  "New 
Olive  Branch,"  and  "Essays  on  Political  Economy,"  and  his 
son,  Henry  C.  Carey,  in  his  "Principles  of  Political  Economy," 
have  made  Pennsylvania  the  hotbed  of  the  protective  system 
in  the  United  States.  Henry  Clay,  in  spite  of  many  opinions  to 
the  contrary,  was  always  from  his  first  appearance  in  national 
politics  in  1806,  an  ardent  disciple  of  Mathew  Carey.  And  it 
must  be  confessed  that  Matthew  Lyon,  in  view  of  his  high 
tariff  utterances  in  Congress  during  1807,  and  the  succeeding 
two  years,  was  still  strongly  tinctured  on  that  subject  with 
what  Mr.  Jefferson  always  styled  political  heresy.  One  of 
Jefferson's  latest  letters,  that  to  William  B.  Giles,  December 
26,  1825,  was  called  forth  by  Henry  Clay's  schemes  of  pater 
nalism  when  Secretary  of  State  under  John  Quincy  Adams. 

"I  see,  as  you  do,  and  with  the  deepest  affliction,"  exclaimed 
the  venerable  patriot,  "the  rapid  strides  with  which  the  Federal 
branch  of  our  Government  is  advancing  towards  the  usurpa 
tion  of  all  the  rights  reserved  to  the  States,  and  the  consolida 
tion  in  itself  of  all  powers,  foreign  and  domestic;  and  that,  too, 
by  constructions  which,  if  legitimate,  leave  no  limits  to  their 
power.  Take  together  the  decisions  of  the  Federal  Court,  the 
doctrines  of  the  President  and  the  misconstructions  of  the  con 
stitutional  compact  acted  on  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Federal 
branch,  and  it  is  but  too  evident  that  the  three  ruling  branches 
of  that  department  are  in  combination  to  strip  their  colleagues, 
the  State  authorities,  of  the  powers  reserved  by  them,  and  to 
exercise  themselves  all  functions,  foreign  and  domestic.  Under 
the  power  to  regulate  commerce  they  assume  indefinitely  that 
also  over  agriculture  and  manufactures,  and  call  it  regulation 

«  "  Annals  of  Congress  "  (1806-7). 


462  MATTHEW    LYON 

to  take  the  earnings  of  one  of  these  branches  of  industry,  and 
that,  too,  the  most  depressed,  and  put  them  into  the  pockets  of 
the  other,  the  most  flourishing  of  all.  And  what  is  our  re 
source  for  the  preservation  of  the  Constitution?  Reason  and 
argument?  You  might  as  well  reason  and  argue  with  the 
marble  columns  encircling  them.  *  *  *  They  now  look 
to  a  single  and  splendid  government  of  an  aristocracy,  founded 
on  banking  institutions  and  moneyed  incorporations  under 
the  guise  and  cloak  of  their  favored  branches  of  manufactures, 
commerce  and  navigation,  riding  and  ruling  over  the  plundered 
ploughman  and  beggared  yeomanry. "a 

Here  then  the  reader  has  the  explanation  of  Henry  Clay's 
course  in  the  Senate  in  1806  and  1807,  of  open  hostility  to  Mr. 
Jefferson.  Burr  had  poisoned  his  mind.  The  President  was 
aware  of  his  enmity,  but  confessed  his  total  ignorance  of  the 
cause  of  it  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Cooper,  written  at  Monticello, 
September  I,  1807.  In  this  letter  he  says:  "  It  is  true,  as  you 
have  heard,  that  a  distance  has  taken  place  between  Mr.  Clay 
and  myself.  The  cause  I  never  could  learn  or  imagine.  I 
had  always  known  him  to  be  an  able  man,  and  I  believed  him 
an  honest  one.  I  had  looked  to  his  coming  into  Congress  with 
an  entire  belief  that  he  would  be  cordial  with  the  administra 
tion,  and  even  before  that  I  had  always  had  him  in  my  mind 
for  a  high  and  important  vacancy  which  had  been  from  time  to 
time  expected,  but  is  only  now  about  to  take  place.  I  feel  his 
loss,  therefore,  with  real  concern,  but  it  is  irremediable  from 
the  necessity  of  harmony  and  cordiality  between  those  who  are 
to  manage  together  the  public  concerns.  Not  only  his  with 
drawing  from  the  usual  civilities  of  intercourse  with  me  (which 

«"  Works  of  Jefferson,"  Vol.  VII,  p.  426  et  seq. 


THE  HAMPDEIS   OF  CONGRESS  463 

even  the  Federalists,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  keep  up), 
but  his  open  hostility  in  Congress  to  the  administration  leave 
no  doubt  of  the  state  of  his  mind  as  a  fact,  although  the  cause 
be  unknown."0 

Andrew  Jackson  had  also  been  seduced  into  antagonism  to 
Jefferson  by  the  maleficent  Burr,  and  went  to  Richmond,  at 
the  time  of  Burr's  trial,  according  to  old  Mr.  W.  H.  Sparks  in 
his  "  Memories  of  Fifty  Years,"  an  unreliable  book,  where  he 
roundly  abused  the  President.  Sparks  says :  "  When  on  his 
(Burr's)  trial  at  Richmond,  Jackson  went  there,  and  was  found 
on  the  street  haranguing  the  people  in  Burr's  favor,  and  de 
nouncing  the  prosecution  and  the  President.  Subsequently, 
however,  he  denounced  Burr,  and  pretended  that  he  had  de 
ceived  him."6  But  little  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  garrul 
ous  Sparks,  who  wrote  his  book  in  old  age  when  his  memory 
had  faded.  Randall,  however,  has  a  reference  to  Jackson's  hos 
tility  at  this  time.  But  it  is  probable  that  Matthew  Lyon 
warned  Jackson  against  Burr,  and  opened  his  eyes  to  his  real 
character. 

In  the  light  of  Lyon's  deposition  in  the  Wilkinson  investi 
gation  before  a  congressional  committee  in  1811,  the  depon 
ent's  relations  with  Burr  are  revealed,  and  show  a  set  purpose 
on  Burr's  part  to  reach  Jackson  through  Lyon.  In  reality 
Burr  could  not  have  felt  any  friendship  for  Lyon,  for  he  had 
tried  in  vain  to  corrupt  him  through  Brown  of  Rhode  Island 
in  1 80 1  in  the  contest  for  President  between  Jefferson  and 
Burr.  Lyon,  above  all  others,  had  been  instrumental  in  Burr's 
defeat.  Hamilton,  next  to  Lyon,  had  worked  hardest  for  that 

«"  Jeff  arson's  Works,"  V,  183. 
»P.  200. 


464  MATTHEW    LYON 

object.  Burr's  feelings  were  probably  very  bitter  against  both. 
Lyon  testified  that  Burr  asked  him  in  1805  to  solicit  Jefferson 
to  appoint  him  to  a  foreign  embassy,  and  that  he  bluntly  re 
fused  to  make  such  a  request.  He  next  expressed  a  wish  to 
accompany  Lyon  by  boat  from  Pittsburgh  to  Kentucky. 
Lyon's  boat  was  to  start  on  a  certain  day;  Burr's  boat  would 
not  be  ready  to  start  for  a  day  or  two  later.  "  Colonel 
Burr  arrived  at  Pittsburgh,"  Lyon  deposed,  "  the  evening  be 
fore  I  left  that  place.  He  assured  me  General  Wilkinson 
would  be  on  in  a  day  or  two,  and  begged  of  me  to  wait  their 
company.  I  gave  him  to  understand  that  my  business  would 
not  admit  of  my  waiting  one  moment  for  the  company  of  any 
ceremonious  gentleman.  In  all  the  journies  of  my  long  life 
I  had  not  waited  half  an  hour  for  the  company  of  any  man."* 
Lyon  was  evidently  not  taken  by  the  proposal.  Thirty-six 
hours  after  his  departure,  "  by  extraordinary  exertions  of  his 
hands,"  Burr  overtook  him.  "  We  lashed  together,"  says 
Lyon,  "to  Marietta;  he  stopped  at  Blennerhassett's."  At 
Washington  Wilkinson  also  had  solicited  Lyon's  aid  for  Burr, 
and  while  Lyon  refused  to  interest  himself  for  him  with  Presi 
dent  Jefferson,  he  had  suggested  that  by  going  early  to  Ten 
nessee  Burr  might  be  returned  from  there  to  Congress.  In 
his  deposition  Lyon  states  that  Burr  did  not  appear  to  take 
more  than  a  languid  interest  in  this  suggestion.  His  schemes 
in  the  East  kept  him  at  Philadelphia,  and  Lyon  assured  Wil 
kinson  that  this  delay  had  destroyed  any  chance  for  election 
which  Burr  might  have  had  by  a  prompt  departure  for  Nash 
ville.  Whatever  his  motive,  Burr  seemed  determined  to  stick 

•  "  Memoirs  of  My  Own  Times,"  by  General  James  Wilkinson,  Ap 
pendix,  No.  LXVIII. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS 

to  Lyon.  "At  the  falls  of  Ohio,"  I  again  quote  from  the  dep 
osition,  "  where  I  had  considerable  business,  he  overtook  me ; 
there  I  repeated  to  him  that  the  delay  he  had  made  had  ruined 
his  prospects  of  election,  as  that  prospect  depended  solely  on 
domestication.  At  the  falls  he  changed  his  flat  boat  for  a  small 
boat,  which  he  ordered  to  Eddyville  (where  I  live),  and  rode  to 
Nashville."  He  was  received  by  the  leading  people  at  Nash 
ville,  including  General  Jackson,  with  great  eclat,  but  soon  re 
turned  to  Colonel  Lyon's  house  at  Eddyville.  "  I  inquired  if 
anything  had  been  said  about  the  election,"  continues  the  depo 
sition.  "  He  answered,  '  not  one  word/  I  observed  that  he 
ought  to  think  no  more  of  it.  In  answer,  he  said  he  had  little 
doubt  of  being  elected  a  delegate  from  Orleans  Territory,  but 
he  would  choose  to  be  a  member,  and  insisted  that  I  should 
write  to  a  friend  of  mine  (who  had  paid  him  the  most  marked 
attention)  to  see  if  the  thing  could  be  yet  set  on  foot,  and  to 
inform  him  he  would  be  a  resident  in  Tennessee.  At  the  time 
of  the  election  he  requested  me  to  communicate  the  answer  to 
him  at  Natchez.  I  complied  with  his  wishes,  the  answer  I 
received  being  unfavorable  to  him."  Hildreth  says  that  Lyon's 
friend,  to  whom  Burr  urged  him  to  write,  was  "  probably  Jack 
son."""  About  the  same  time,  in  reply  to  a  letter  of  Wilkinson, 

Lyon  wrote,  "  B lost  the  prospect  in  Tennessee,  by  not 

pursuing  the  road  I  pointed  out  for  him."  The  last  question 
propounded  by  the  committee  respecting  Burr,  and  Lyon's 
answer,  were  as  follows:  "  Did  you  not  believe  him  sincere? 
In  answer  to  which  I  say,  no  doubt  he  would  have  been  sin 
cerely  rejoiced  to  have  been  elected.  There  seemed  too  much 
mystery  in  his  conduct.  I  suspected  him  to  have  other  objects 
<*  Hildreth's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  2d  series,  II,  597. 


466  MATTHEW    LYON 

in  view,  to  which  I  could  not  penetrate.  These  objects  I  then 
believed  were  known  to  General  Wilkinson ;  but  I  had  no  idea, 
at  that  time,  of  his  having  any  treasonable  project  in  his  head."a 
It  was  not  long  before  Lyon  became  satisfied  that  both  Burr 
and  Wilkinson  required  watching,  and  from  his  speeches  in 
Congress  it  is  evident  that  his  friendship  for  Wilkinson,  a  fellow 
soldier  in  the  Revolution,  was  at  an  end,  and  that  he  deemed 
Burr,  to  whom  he  had  refused  to  be  introduced  in  1801,  with 
his  mysterious  projects,  dangerous,  sinister  and  probably  bent 
on  treason.  Entertaining  these  views  it  is  not  difficult  to  im 
agine  what  Colonel  Lyon  must  have  said  to  his  neighbor  and 
cherished  friend  Andrew  Jackson.  Apart  from  some  account 
which  Mrs.  Roe,  Colonel  Lyon's  daughter,  communicated  to 
me,  but  which  being  the  recollections  of  a  very  old  lady  cannot 
be  deemed  historical  proof,  the  internal  evidence  makes  it  ex 
tremely  probable  that  Lyon  warned  Jackson  to  be  on  his  guard 
with  Burr,  and  as  Lyon  was  in  confidential  relations  with  Jef 
ferson  and  Gallatin,  it  is  likely  that  the  secret  knowledge  which 
Jackson  obtained  about  this  period  of  Burr's  and  Wilkinson's 
schemes  was  confided  to  his  ears  by  Matthew  Lyon.  Jackson 
changed  abruptly.  He  had  allowed  his  nephew  to  go  into 
service  with  Burr,  which  showed  he  then  trusted  him,  but  he 
soon  sent  off  express  a  confidential  letter  to  Governor  Clai- 
borne  putting  him  on  his  guard  against  Wilkinson,  and  more 
than  hinting  that  the  government  was  threatened  by  a  secret 
plot.  "  I  fear,"  said  he,  "  there  is  something  rotten  in  the  state 
of  Denmark."  It  is  my  opinion  that  Lyon,  who  was  in  a  posi 
tion  to  learn  administration  secrets,  opened  the  eyes  of  General 
Jackson  to  the  existence  of  a  dangerous  conspiracy.  Mr. 
«  Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  Appendix  No.  LXVIII. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  467 

Jefferson,  who  trusted  Wilkinson,  though  Lyon  had  ceased  to 
do  so,  wrote  to  Governor  Claiborne,  January  3,  1807,  "  Be 
assured  that  Tennessee,  and  particularly  General  Jackson,  are 
faithful."6  In  a  former  chapter  of  this  volume  I  called  atten 
tion  to  a  scurrilous  article  by  Peter  Porcupine,  in  1797,  holding 
up  to  public  ridicule  Jefferson,  Jackson,  Monroe,  Gallatin  and 
Lyon.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  Lyon's  relations  to  all 
of  those  distinguished  Democrats  continued  to  the  end  most 
intimate  and  loyal.  If  he  baffled  Burr  in  his  treasonable  mach 
inations,  and  revealed  to  Jackson  the  true  character  of  the  man, 
it  was  the  most  important  service  he  had  rendered  to  his  coun 
try  since  he  gave  Jefferson  the  ninth  and  decisive  vote  in  1801. 

Colonel  Lyon's  early  associations  with  New  England  men 
were  revived  considerably  during  his  latter  days  in  Congress. 
He  opposed  the  embargo  and  made  several  strong  speeches 
against  it.  This  brought  him  into  sympathy  with  the  distin 
guished  Josiah  Quincy,  between  whom  and  himself  a  cordial 
friendship  sprung  up  in  Congress,  which  continued  throughout 
the  remainder  of  Colonel  Lyon's  life.  But  when  Quincy 
threatened  the  secession  of  Massachusetts  from  the  Union, 
Lyon,  then  in  Kentucky,  wrote  him  earnestly  to  frown  upon 
that  mad  scheme,  and  made  one  of  the  most  pathetic  and  elo 
quent  appeals  he  ever  uttered  to  the  patriotism  of  Massachu 
setts.  He  said :  "  The  step  I  most  dread  and  have  ever 
dreaded  seems  ready  to  be  taken;  I  mean  the  separation  of  the 
States,  and  that  through  the  folly  of  the  National  Government. 
*  *  *  Yet  I  still  hope  that  New  England  will  act  worthy 
of  themselves.  *  *  *  Permit  me,  my  dear  sir,  once  more 
to  remind  you  of  the  importance  of  preserving  the  Union  to 

» Randall's  Life  of  Jefferson,  III,  186. 


468  MATTHEW    LYON 

the  last  extremity.  Besides  the  reasons  commonly  urged  and 
well  enforced  by  Mr.  Dexter,  your  dextrous  Democratic  can 
didate,  the  New  England  people  ought  to  consider  their  very 
limited  boundary,  the  extensive,  vacant  world  west  of  them, 
to  a  share  of  which  they  are  entitled ;  the  importance  of  keeping 
open  the  roads  through  which  their  vast  surplus  population 
can  emigrate  into  other  parts  of  the  same  Nation,  carrying  with 
them  their  steady  habits,  their  industry  and  their  ingenuity,  to 
which  every  other  people  pay  deference  and  give  place.  My 
good  friend,  I  frequently  hear  from  you.  I  observe  your  ef 
forts  to  restore  our  Nation  to  its  usual  state  of  health  and 
peace  with  pleasure.  I  read  with  indignation  the  foolish  rav 
ings  of  those  who  hate  you  because  they  know  you  not." 

Colonel  Lyon's  most  serious  mistake  as  a  public  man  was 
his  opposition  to  the  war  of  i8i2%  It  probably  lost  him  his 
seat  in  Congress.  Having  been  thrown  out  of  alignment  with 
his  party  upon  the  policy  of  an  embargo  and  non-intercourse, 
he  drifted  by  easy  gradation  into  opposition  upon  the  subject 
of  war.  But  his  opposition  was  not  factious.  At  best  it  was 
a  temporary  aberration  from  his  usual  clear-sighted,  practical 
judgment  upon  questions  of  public  policy.  He  did  not  sulk 
in  his  tent,  but  built  gunboats  for  the  war  at  his  shipyards  and, 
being  too  old  himself  to  go,  sent  his  sons  to  the  field  to  do- 
battle  for  their  country.  A  few  years  after  his  vision  cleared, 
and  he  frankly  admitted  in  a  letter  to  President  Monroe  June 
7,  1817,  that  he  had  undergone  a  change  of  mind.  "  What 
ever,"  said  he,  "  I  might  have  thought  of  the  untimeliness  of 
the  late  war,  I  now  consider  it  the  most  fortunate  war  for  the 
world  that  mankind  ever  experienced,  as  had  it  not  been  for 
the  lesson  that  war  has  taught  Europeans,  there  would  prob- 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  469 

ably,  before  this  time,  have  been  on  foot  a  crusade  of  the  old 
world  for  the  destruction  of  the  liberties  of  the  new  world, 
which  might  have  been  attended  with  the  most  disastrous 
consequences." 

Colonel  Lyon  not  only  acted  with  the  opposition  against 
the  embargo,  but  more  especially  in  condemning  the  right  of  a 
Congressional  Caucus  to  nominate  candidates  for  President 
and  Vice-President.  He  continued  always  to  be  a  Democrat, 
yet  his  attitude  on  these  important  questions  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  cost  him  his  seat  at  the  next  election,  and  for 
the  time  undermined  his  popularity  in  Kentucky;  just  as  his 
old  antagonist  in  many  a  fierce  debate,  John  Randolph  of 
Roanoke,  for  the  same  reason  was  left  at  home  in  Virginia. 
Colonel  Lyon  was  among  the  very  first  to  oppose  the  prevail 
ing  custom  of  putting  forth  candidates  for  President  by  a 
Congressional  Caucus,  and  although  the  custom  survived  for 
some  years  longer,  it  was  finally  abandoned.  His  speeches  in 
Congress,  and  his  letter  in  1822  to  Niles's  Register,  aided  pow 
erfully  in  educating  the  public  mind  to  the  necessity  of  reform 
ing  the  system  and  lodging  the  duty  of  choosing  candidates 
where  it  rightly  belonged,  with  the  people  of  the  several  States. 
National  nominating  conventions,  composed  of  delegates 
chosen  by  the  people  on  the  same  basis  as  they  elect  represen 
tatives  and  senators  to  Congress,  at  last  superseded  the  caucus 
system,  and  vindicated  the  sagacity  of  Lyon  in  his  advocacy  of 
the  change.  But  his  stinging  strictures  on  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Madison  probably  contributed  in  no  slight  degree  to  the 
loss  of  his  seat  in  Congress.  It  was  known  that  he  preferred 
James  Monroe  to  any  other  man  as  Mr.  Jefferson's  successor, 
and  even  after  Mr.  Madison  was  elected,  and  on  the  very  day 


47O  MATTHEW    LYON 

before  the  Senate  and  House  met  jointly  to  count  the  votes 
and  declare  the  result,  Lyon  made  a  strong  anti-embargo 
speech,  in  which,  with  characteristic  boldness,  he  attacked  the 
hero  of  the  hour  as  the  "  Caucus  President." 

"  We  have,"  he  said,  "  a  Constitution  which  provides  for  the 
meeting  of  142  members  in  this  House  and  34  in  another  to 
consult  for  the  common  good  and  provide  for  the  safety  of 
this  Nation.  We  may  talk  here,  here  we  may  vote,  here  we 
may  meet  to  collect  a  majority  to  order  the  registering  of  the 
decrees  of  a  sort  of  Jacobin  Club  called  a  caucus,  who  hold 
their  midnight  convocations  to  consult, — not  the  good  or  the 
safety  of  the  Nation,  no ;  that  could  be  best  done  here — no,  sir, 
it  is  to  consult  what  can  be  done  to  save  the  party,  not  the 
Old  Republican  of  1798;  no,  that  party  is  broken  down.  I 
don't  hear  that  yourself  (Mr.  Macon)  and  many  others  of  that 
Old  Republican  party  meet  in  those  caucuses,  those  nightly 
meetings.  It  is,  it  seems,  the  Embargo  party  who  meet  in 
the  Senate  rooms  under  pretense  of  consulting  and  devising 
means  for  the  national  benefit,  yet  in  their  discussions  they  can 
not  avoid  dwelling  upon  the  dangerous  situation  of  their  party. 
It  was  in  the  great  or  little  caucuses  that  this  war-whoop  com 
menced;  it  was  there  discussed  and  recommended  as  a  party- 
saving  measure.  It  seems  that  we  are  in  future  to  look  for 
all  national  measures  to  be  first  canvassed  in  those  midnight 
meetings  by  those  self-created  caucus  gentry.  It  seems  that 
every  measure  proposed  for  national  benefit,  however  applica 
ble  to  the  state  of  this  Nation,  is  to  be  scouted  out  of  this 
House  at  the  first  glance,  merely  because  it  is  not  the  child  of 
this  caucus;  our  work  is  thus  to  be  laid  out  for  us  in  the  mid 
night  caucuses,  and  we  are  to  be  called  upon  to  be  present 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  47! 

while  these  measures  receive  a  vote  of  sanction  in  this  House, 
which  is  in  future  to  act  the  part  of  Bonaparte's  mock  Parlia 
ment.  We  are  to  meet  to-morrow  here  to  attend  the  register 
ing  of  the  election  of  a  caucus  President;  we  are  to  have  a 
caucus  army,  I  understand,  a  caucus  non-intercourse,  a  caucus 
loan  of  ten  millions,  equal  to  the  whole  capital  of  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States.  And  all  this  not  to  save  the  Nation, 
but  the  Embargo  party."0 

Colonel  Lyon  was  so  busily  engaged  in  superintending  the 
building  of  a  fine  vessel  at  his  shipyards  in  Eddyville  about 
the  beginning  of  the  war  of  1812,  and  loading  it  with  a  valu 
able  cargo,  that  he  neglected  his  political  interests,  and  this,  in 
connection  with  his  waning  popularity,  lost  him  the  election 
for  the  Twelfth  Congress.  His  vessel  was  wrecked  on  the 
Mississippi  during  the  trip  to  New  Orleans,  and  together  with 
the  greater  part  of  the  valuable  cargo  was  lost.  His  wealth 
had  already  been  impaired  by  the  first  embargo,  and  this  last 
stroke  of  adverse  fortune  reduced  him  from  affluence  to  com 
parative  poverty.  His  son  Chittenden  assumed  his  liabilities, 
as  before  stated,  to  the  amount  of  twenty-eight  thousand  dol 
lars,  and  with  his  other  sons,  who  were  all  prosperous,  came 
to  a  beloved  father's  assistance.  But  Colonel  Lyon  was  a 
proud  man,  and  his  unbroken  spirit  chafed  under  the  restraints 
of  dependence,  even  upon  those  whose  delight  it  was  to  ren 
der  to  him  the  offices  of  love  and  duty. 

For  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  turned  to  his  old  political 

associates  at  Washington  in  quest  of  official  preferment.     He 

wrote  in  1818  to  Senator  Armisted  C.  Mason  of  Virginia,  the 

son  of  that  devoted  friend  in  the  dark  days  of  1798,  Gen. 

•Annals    loth  Congress,  February  7,  1809,  pp.  1420-1422. 


47*'  MATTHEW    LYON 

Stevens  Thompson  Mason,  and  to  another  staunch  friend,  the 
celebrated  Nathaniel  Macon  of  North  Carolina,  and  soon 
learned  from  eack  of  those  gentlemen  that  they  had  brought 
his  application  to  the  notice  of  President  Monroe,  who  ex 
pressed  much  sympathy  and  respect  for  Colonel  Lyon,  and 
an  intention  to  appoint  him  to  a  good  office. 

In  1820  the  President  appointed  him  United  States  Factor 
to  the  Cherokee  Nation  in  the  Territory  of  Arkansas,  and  the 
old  statesman  immediately  set  out  for  the  then  frontier  regions 
of  the  Union  west  of  the  Mississippi.  The  same  indomitable 
spirit  which  blazed  a  path  through  the  primeval  forests  of 
Vermont  and  Kentucky  was  not  yet  quenched,  and  soon  Spadra 
Bluff,  his  new  home  on  the  Arkansas  river,  about  140  miles 
above  Arkansas  City,  felt  the  impulse  of  that  energy  and  enter 
prise  which  the  founder  of  the  towns  of  Fair  Haven  and  Eddy- 
ville  had  displayed  everywhere  during  his  long  and  eventful 
life.  The  people  of  Arkansas  elected  Colonel  Lyon  as  their 
second  delegate  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  a  fur 
ther  proof  of  his  magnetic  character  in  every  situation  of  life. 

But  he  did  not  live  to  take  his  seat.  His  astonishing  activity 
was  as  marked  now  as  at  any  period  of  his  life,  and  he  seemed 
to  forget  that  there  were  any  limits  upon  his  vital  resources. 
He  performed  a  journey  shortly  before  his  death  which  the 
hardy  people  among  whom  he  resided  long  talked  of  with 
astonishment  as  truly  extraordinary.  The  Arkansas  Gazette, 
in  the  month  of  May,  1822,  published  an  account  of  this  jour 
ney,  and  Niles's  Register  for  June  29,  1822,  copied  it  as  a 
memorable  performance.  At  the  beginning  of  that  year  Col 
onel  Lyon  built  a  flat  boat  at  Spadra  Bluff  and  loaded  it  with 
furs,  peltries  and  Indian  commodities,  and  on  the  I4th  of  Feb- 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  473 

ruary  launched  it  on  the  Arkansas  river,  bound  under  his  own 
charge  to  New  Orleans.  The  long  trip  was  successfully  made, 
and  his  collection  of  furs,  peltries  and  Indian  commodities  was 
exchanged  at  New  Orleans  for  factory  supplies,  storekeepers' 
goods,  various  utensils  for  the  Cherokees,  iron  ware,  such  as 
he  used  to  turn  out  at  his  Fair  Haven  forge  and  Eddyville 
foundry,  and  the  machinery  for  a  gigantic  cotton  gin  which 
he  was  erecting,  the  largest  one  up  to  that  period  ever  seen  in 
Arkansas.  The  return  passage  was  begun  in  the  roughest 
weather  of  an  inclement  season,  but  it  did  not  chill  the  fires 
of  the  old  pioneer,  for  on  the  way  back,  like  another  Daniel 
Boone,  he  longed  to  thread  once  more  the  Kentucky  forests, 
and  after  ascending  the  Mississippi  to  the  mouth  of  White 
river,  he  there  stored  his  cargo  and  set  out  for  a  flying  visit 
to  his  old  hearthstone  and  friends  at  beloved  Eddyville.  He 
soon  returned,  having  gone  through  a  journey  within  three 
months,  in  his  seventy-third  year,  of  over  three  thousand  miles. 
All  this  was  accomplished  in  wintry  weather  and  against  cur 
rents  so  adverse  that  oftentimes  on  his  trip  down  the  river 
from  Arkansas  his  boat  ran  aground,  when  he  was  the  first 
to  jump  into  the  water  "  to  shove  her  off; "  and  again  in 
ascending  the  stream  on  his  return  to  Spadra  Bluff  he  guided 
the  hands  while  they  dragged  along  the  grounded  boat,  and 
always  insisted  upon  doing  his  share  in  "  rowing,  steering  or 
cordelling."  The  editor  of  the  Arkansas  Gazette  saw  Colonel 
Lyon  as  he  ascended  the  river,  and  could  not  discover  that  the 
long  journey  had,  in  the  least,  affected  his  health.  But  he 
was  mistaken.  "  This,"  says  Wharton,  "  was  the  last  time  he 
was  to  drop  down  the  current  of  the  Mississippi,  or  visit,  by 
way  of  an  interlude,  his  second  home  in  Kentucky,  for  robust 


4/4  MATTHEW    LYON 

as  he  was,  the  chill  of  old  age  was  at  hand,  and,  like  the  night 
of  northern  climates,  was  destined  to  drop  upon  him  without 
the  notice  of  an  intermediate  twilight." 

Among  the  family  records  piously  preserved  after  his  death 
by  his  bereaved  widow  and  children  at  his  old  home  in  Eddy- 
ville,  the  account  was  kept  of  Colonel  Lyon's  last  illness  and 
death  at  far  off  Spadra  Bluff.  An  old  and  faithful  retainer, 
George  Skinner,  like  another  Scottish  seneschal,  not  only 
served  him  in  Vermont,  and  went  with  him  to  Kentucky,  but 
with  a  devotion  that  never  relaxed,  followed  him  across  the 
Mississippi  to  the  distant  nation  of  the  Cherokees.  Skinner 
related  with  what  precision  his  master,  when  his  sickness  be 
gan,  ordered  every  detail,  the  hours  for  medicine,  the  adjust 
ment  of  business,  his  farewell  messages  to  loved  ones,  and  then 
occurred  his  placid  death  like  an  infant  falling  asleep.  Scenes 
of  childhood  seemed  to  flit  before  him,  as  is  often  the  case  with 
the  old.  Again  he  wandered  through  the  Vale  of  Avoca,  in 
his  native  Wicklow,  and  perhaps  thought  of  Moore's  famous 
lines, 

"  Sweet  Vale  of  Avoca  how  calm  could  I  rest 
In  thy  bosom  of  shade  with  the  friends  I  love  best, 
Where  the  sorrows  we  feel  in  this  cold  world  shall  cease, 
And  our  hearts  like  thy  waters  be  mingled  in  peace." 

Matthew  Lyon  died  at  Spadra  Bluff  on  the  ist  of  August, 
1822,  lamented  by  the  whole  American  people;  a  man  of  action 
and  deeds  which  left  their  impress  on  his  times;  a  patriot  in 
every  fibre,  whose  vote  made  a  President;  a  pioneer  along 
whose  pathway  Romance  walked  side  by  side  with  History:  a 
hero  whose  memory  is  cherished  in  Kentucky  and  Vermont 
among  the  foremost  and  bravest  of  their  sons. 


THE  HAMPDEN  OF  CONGRESS  475 

The  remains  of  Matthew  Lyon  were  interred  at  Spadra  Bluff, 
but  in  the  year  1833  his  son  Chittenden  Lyon  and  other  mem 
bers  of  Col.Lyon's  family  resolved  to  transfer  the  body  to  Ken 
tucky,  and  re-inter  it  at  Eddyville.  This  was  accordingly  done, 
and  the  ceremonies  of  the  reburial  drew  together  an  immense 
assemblage  of  the  friends  of  Matthew  Lyon.  A  handsome 
monument  was  erected  over  the  grave,  with  suitable  inscrip 
tions  commemorative  of  the  founder  of  Eddyville.  Old  men 
still  living  remember  the  impressive  services,  and  speak  of  the 
bringing  home  of  "bell  and  burial"  for  the  beloved  founder,  as 
the  most  solemn  event  in  the  history  of  the  town. 


APPENDIX. 


WHAT   WAS   COLONEL   LYON'S    CHURCH? 

While  collecting  materials  for  this  biography  I  addressed 
inquiries  to  the  descendants  of  Matthew  Lyon  in  regard  to 
his  religious  faith.  A  remark  in  his  letter  to  John  Adams,  "  It 
is  a  maxim  with  the  lawyers  and  popish  priests,  I  believe,  that 
the  greater  the  villainy  to  be  exculpated  from,  the  greater  the 
fee,"  had  led  me  to  suppose  that  he  was  not  a  Catholic. 
Another  remark  by  Colonel  Lyon,  March  27,  1810,  during  a 
speech  he  made  in  the  House  in  opposition  to  the  embargo 
and  non-intercourse  as  useless  self-punishment,  served  still 
more  to'  strengthen  the  impression  that  he  was  no  Catholic. 
That  remark  was  as  follows :  "  They  would  not  believe  us 
when  we  told  them  the  attribute  or  thing  they  called  virtue 
was  mere  monkish  self-flagellation  and  debasement." 

But  occasionally  letters  came  to  hand  which  left  the  ques 
tion  in  doubt  as  to  his  real  religious  convictions.  In  Con 
necticut  and  Vermont  Lyon  had  been  thrown  exclusively  from 
his  fifteenth  year  into  the  society  of  Puritans  and  other  non- 
Catholics.  In  Kentucky  he  found  a  flourishing  Catholic 
colony,  the  history  of  which  has  been  admirably  sketched  by 
the  late  Archbishop  Martin  John  Spalding.  Associations  and 
environment  often  have  much  to  do  with  the  state  of  religious 
opinion.  Lyon  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance  and  friend 
ship  with  Father  Abell  and  Father  Durbin,  well-known  priests, 


478  APPENDIX 

of  Kentucky.  A  great-granddaughter  of  his,  in  a  letter  now 
before  me,  says :  "  Have  you  met  our  cousin  the  Catholic 

priest,  or  do  you  know  anything  of  the Hennessy  affair  at 

Lyon's  Iron  Works  in  Vermont  in  1796?  "  Mr.  L.  E.  Chit- 
tenden,  great-grandson  of  Governor  Thomas  Chittenden  of 
Vermont,  and  Register  of  the  Treasury  under  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  wrote,  February  3d,  1881,  in  relation  to  Matthew  Lyon: 
"  I  do  not  think  he  adhered  to  any  religious  creed  whatever, 
not  even  that  of  his  Catholic  ancestry/'  April  4th,  1881,  ex- 
Senator  W.  B.  Machen,  who  married  Lyon's  granddaughter, 
wrote:  "He  was  probably  Catholic  in  his  faith,  but  no  re 
ligionist  in  his  practice.  His  wife  was  a  Methodist."  Mr. 
Thompson  A.  Lyon,  July  2ist,  1881,  said  as  follows:  "You 
wrote  me  sometime  ago  to  know  something  as  to  the  religious 
belief  of  grandfather.  From  an  anecdote  I  heard  of  him  to 
day  I  am  inclined  to  think  he  was  a  Catholic,  as  he  was 
frequently  visited  by  Father  Abell  of  Washington  county,  who 
was  in  that  day  a  prominent  priest  in  this  State."  Another 
descendant,  Mrs.  Mary  Shelby  Wyatt,  of  Fredonia,  Kentucky, 
April  17,  1899,  wrote  as  follows:  "There  is  one  point  I  wish 
you  would  hunt  up  about  our  great-grandfather, — was  he  a 
Catholic  or  Protestant?  My  mother  told  me  one  of  her  earliest 
recollections  was  of  hearing  old  Father  Durbin  celebrate  mass 
in  her  father's  house.  This  would  seem  to  indicate  the  family 
were  Catholic."  Miss  Fannie  M.  Hepburn,  another  de 
scendant,  December  6th,  1899,  said:  "  In  reply  to  your  inquiry 
as  to  the  religious  faith  of  my  great-grandfather,  Col.  Matthew 
Lyon,  I  regret  that  I  cannot  give  you  any  satisfactory  informa 
tion.  I  know  that  he  was  not  a  member  of  any  church,  and 
I  believe  there  is  no  record  of  his  ever  having  made  a  pro- 


APPENDIX  479 

fession  of  religious  faith."  After  diligent  inquiry,  the  above 
meagre  information  is  all  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  in  rela 
tion  to  Colonel  Lyon's  religious  opinions. 

LYON'S  TESTIMONY  BEFORE  A  CONGRESSIONAL  COMMITTEE 
APPOINTED  TO  INQUIRE  INTO  THE  CONDUCT  OF  GENERAL 
JAMES  WILKINSON. 

"  COLONEL  M.    LYON'S   DEPOSITION. 

Questions  proposed  to  the  honorable  Mr.  Lyon,  by  General 
Wilkinson. 

Have  you  any  knowledge  of  Colonel  Burr's  intention  to 
offer  himself  as  a  candidate  to  Congress  for  the  State  of 
Tennessee,  before  you  left  this  city  in  the  spring,  1805;  if  so, 
will  you  be  pleased  to  state  the  particulars? 

Did  not  Colonel  Burr  cross  the  mountains  that  spring,  de 
scend  the  Ohio,  and  proceed  to  Nashville,  in  Tennessee,  with 
the  professed  intention  to  canvass  for  the  proposed  election 
to  Congress,  and  did  you  not  believe  him  sincere? 

Did  you  see  or  converse  with  Colonel  Burr,  after  he  reached 
the  western  country,  concerning  his  election  to  Congress,  from 
the  State  of  Tennessee? 

Did  you  not,  in  a  letter  to  General  Wilkinson,  dated  Novem 
ber  19,  1805,  make  allusion  to  the  said  election  of  Burr,  in  the 

following  terms :  "  B lost  the  prospect  in  Tennessee,  by 

not  pursuing  the  road  I  pointed  out  for  him?" 

To  the  honourable  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States. 

The  undersigned,  in  answering  the  questions,  proposed  by 
General  Wilkinson,  and  handed  him  by  the  chairman  of  the 


48o 


APPENDIX 


committee,  considers  himself  bound  to  explain  the  state  of  his 
acquaintance,  with  both  General  Wilkinson  and  Colonel  Burr. 

With  General  Wilkinson,  I  have  had  acquaintance,  since  the 
retreat  of  the  army  from  Ticonderoga,  in  1777.  His  conduct 
during  that  memorable  campaign,  which  ended  with  the  cap 
ture  of  Burgoyne,  and  his  army,  endeared  him  to  me:  he 
seemed  to  be  the  life  and  soul  of  the  headquarters  of  the  army : 
he,  in  the  capacity  of  Adjutant-General,  governed  at  head 
quarters.  He  was  a  standing  correction  of  the  follies  and 
irregularities,  occasioned  by  the  weakness  and  intemperance 
of  the  commanding  general.  This  regard  for  General  Wilkin 
son,  followed  him  through  the  various  stages  of  his  public 
life. 

I  was,  in  the  time  of  Adams's  administration,  distressed,  for 
fear  he  was  entangled  with  that  party :  from  this  anxiety,  I  was 
measurably  relieved  by  the  General's  conduct  on  the  change 
of  the  administration.  In  an  interview  at  my  house,  in  Ken 
tucky,  in  the  spring  or  summer,  1802  or  3,  he  explained  and 
elucidated  his  conduct,  on  that  point,  to  my  satisfaction;  of 
course,  when  I  came  to  Congress  from  Kentucky,  in  1803, 
I  was  friendly  disposed  towards  him,  and  when  we  met,  we  did 
not  fail  to  express  our  reciprocal  affection.  I  was  so  much  the 
General's  friend,  that  on  his  appointment  as  Governor  of  Louis 
iana,  I  recommended  him  in  my  circular  letter,  of  which  I 
sent  many  copies  to  my  friends  in  that  territory. 

Some  time  in  the  winter,  1805,  coming  one  morning  from 
Alexandria,  by  way  of  the  navy  yard,  and  passing  by  the  house 
where  the  General  lived,  he  called  on  me  to  come  in;  after 
congratulating  him  on  his  appointment  as  Governor,  and  some 
other  conversation,  Colonel  Burr's  name  was  mentioned. 


APPENDIX  481 

Colonel  Burr  had  no  claim  to  friendly  attentions  from  me. 
I  had  no  acquaintance  with  him  before  the  contest  concerning 
the  presidential  election.  I  had  resisted  the  solicitations  of  my 
friends,  who  wished  to  introduce  me  to  him  in  March,  1801, 
on  account  of  his  misconduct  in  that  affair;  yet  when  I  saw 
him  persecuted  for  what  I  considered  no  more  than  fair  play 
among  duellists,  I  advocated  him:  this  brought  about  an 
acquaintance,  by  no  means  intimate.  In  the  course  of  the 
conversation  between  the  General  and  myself,  we  regretted 
the  loss  of  so  much  talent  as  Colonel  Burr  possessed;  we 
viewed  him  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice,  from  which,  in  a  few 
days,  he  must  fall;  from  the  second  station  in  the  nation,  he 
must  fall  to  that  of  a  private  citizen. 

The  General  entered  warmly  into  his  praise,  and  talked  of 
a  foreign  embassy  for  him.  This  I  assured  him,  could  not  be 
obtained.  The  General  then  asked  me,  if  I  could  not  think  of 
something,  which  would  do  for  the  little  counsellor?  I  replied, 
that  he  might  very  readily  become  a  member  of  the  congress, 
which  were  to  meet  the  coming  winter,  and  in  the  present 
state  of  parties,  considering  the  eclat  with  which  he  was  likely 
to  leave  the  senate,  he  might  very  probably  be  speaker.  The 
General  was  eager  to  know  how  he  could  be  elected  to  con 
gress.  I  explained;  let  Colonel  Burr  mount  his  horse  the 
fourth  of  March,  and  ride  through  Virginia  to  Tennessee, 
giving  out  that  he  intends  settling  at  Nashville,  in  the  practice 
of  the  law.  Let  him  commence  the  practice,  and  fix  himself 
a  home  there;  his  rencounter  with  General  Hamilton,  will  not 
injure  him.  Let  him  attend  the  courts  in  that  district.  Let 
him  in  July  next,  intimate  to  some  of  the  numerous  friends 
(his  pre-eminent  talents  and  suavity  of  manners  will  have  made 


482  APPENDIX 

for  him)  that  he  would  willingly  serve  the  district  in  congress ; 
they  will  set  the  thing  on  foot,  and  he  is  sure  to  be  elected; 
there  is  no  constitutional  bar  in  the  way.  As  I  finished  this 
explanation,  the  General  rose,  and  in  a  seeming  ecstasy  clapped 
his  hands  on  my  shoulders,  exclaiming  with  an  oath,  this  will 
do,  it  is  a  heavenly  thought,  worthy  of  him  who  thought  it. 
He  rang  the  bell,  ordered  his  boots,  and  said  he  would  go 
instantly  to  inform  the  little  counsellor,  and  would  call  on  me 
in  the  House  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  hours;  he  did  so, 
and  informed  me  he  had,  at  Col.  Burr's  request,  made  an  ap 
pointment  for  me  to  call  on  him.  I  was  punctual.  Col.  Burr 
lived  at  Mr.  Wheaton's,  near  the  north  side  of  Pennsylvania 
avenue,  not  far  from  Rhodes's.  It  was  in  the  evening.  I 
knocked,  or  pulled  the  bell,  several  times,  before  a  servant 
came,  who  informed  me  that  Col.  Burr  was  not  to  be  seen, 
he  was  engaged  with  company.  I  gave  the  servant  my  name, 
and  directed  him  to  go  and  tell  Col.  Burr,  that  I  had  called. 
Col.  Burr  came,  and  invited  me  up  stairs,  and  requested  me 
to  sit  with  Mrs.  Wheaton  half  an  hour,  when  he  would  be 
with  me.  In  about  three  quarters  of  an  hour  he  came,  and 
apologised  for  his  delay.  I  observed  to  him,  that  he  had  a 
large  company,  among  whom  I  had  recognized  the  voices  of 
Generals  Wilkinson*  and  Dayton,  although  I  had  not  heard  of 
the  latter  gentleman's  being  in  town;  I  hoped  he  had  not 
hurried  himself  from  them  on  account  of  seeing  me;  that  I 
had  been  well  entertained  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wheaton,  and 
would  have  been  so  an  hour  or  two  longer,  if  he  wished  to 
remain  with  his  company.  Colonel  Burr  said  the  meeting  was 


<*General  Wilkinson  was  then  engaged  with  Burr  and  Dayton,  on 
the  subject  of  the  Canal,  proposed  to  be  cut  at  the  Rapids  of  the  Ohio. 


APPENDIX  483 

about  some  land  concern,  in  the  western  country,  and  they 
had  gone  as  far  as  they  could  with  it  at  that  time;  my  coming- 
had  been  no  interruption;  he  was  very  glad  to  see  me,  and 
soon  commenced  on  the  subject  of  the  coming  election  in  Ten 
nessee.  I  repeated  what  I  had  said  to  General  Wilkinson.  He 
admitted  the  probability  of  success  in  the  course  I  pointed  out; 
but  did  not  seem  to  be  so  much  enamoured  with  the  project  as 
General  Wilkinson.  He  said,  he  was  obliged  on  the  fourth 
of  March,  to  go  to  Philadelphia,  from  thence  he  would  go  to 
Pittsburgh,  and  thence  to  the  western  country  by  water.  I 
offered  him  a  passage  in  my  boat  from  Pittsburgh,  if  he  should 
be  there  when  I  should  have  done  my  business  on  the  Monon- 
gahela,  and  descended  to  Pittsburgh.  I  assured  him,  however, 
all  chance  of  obtaining  the  election  in  Tennessee,  would  be 
jeopardised,  if  not  lost,  by  such  a  delay.  He  told  me  he  had 
ordered  a  boat  prepared  for  him  at  Pittsburgh ;  and  he  talked  as 
if  his  business  in  Philadelphia  was  indispensable,  as  well  as  his 
voyage  down  the  Ohio.  In  stating  this  conversation,  I  give 
the  substance  of  all  the  other  conversations  I  had  that  winter, 
with  Col.  Burr  at  Washington,  except  that  in  some  of  them, 
the  embassy  was  talked  of.  He  observed  that  my  friend  Wil 
kinson,  thought  I  would  be  a  proper  person,  in  a  blunt  way, 
to  mention  it  to  the  President.  He  asked  me,  if  I  dared  to  tell 
the  President  that  he  ought  to  send  Col.  Burr,  on  the  foreign 
embassy  talked  of?  I  told  him  very  bluntly,  I  would  not. 

Colonel  Burr  arrived  at  Pittsburgh,  the  evening  before  I  left 
that  place.  He  assured  me,  General  Wilkinson  would  be  on 
in  a  day  or  two,  and  begged  of  me  to  wait  their  company.  I 
gave  him  to  understand,  that  my  business  would  not  admit  of 
my  waiting  one  moment  for  the  company  of  any  ceremonious 


484  APPENDIX 

gentleman.     In  all  the  journeys  of  my  long  life,  I  had  not 
waited  half  an  hour  for  the  company  of  any  man. 

By  extraordinary  exertions  of  his  hands,  (his  boat  being  light, 
and  mine  being  heavy  loaded  and  frequently  aground)  Colonel 
Burr  overtook  me  in  about  thirty-six  hours  after  I  left  Pitts 
burgh,  and  we  lashed  together  to  Marietta:  he  stopped  at  Blen- 
nerhassett's.  At  the  falls  of  Ohio,  where  I  had  considerable 
business,  he  overtook  me;  there  I  repeated  to  him  that  the 
delay  he  had  made,  had  ruined  his  prospect  of  election,  as  that 
prospect  depended  solely  on  domestication.  At  the  falls,  he 
changed  his  flat  boat,  for  a  small  boat,  which  he  ordered  to 
Eddyville,  (where  I  live)  and  rode  to  Nashville.  The  news 
papers  described  his  arrival  and  reception  there,  as  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  parades  that  ever  had  been  made  at  that 
place.  They  contained  lists  of  toasts,  and  great  dinners,  given 
in  honour  of  Colonel  Burr;  every  body  at  and  near  Nashville, 
seemed  to  be  contending  for  the  honour  of  having  best  treated, 
or  served  Colonel  Burr.  This  I  had  expected,  and  when  Colo 
nel  Burr  called  on  me,  on  his  way  from  Nashville,  to  his  boat, 
I  inquired  if  any  thing  had  been  said  about  the  election.  He 
answered,  not  one  word.  I  observed,  that  he  ought  to  think 
no  more  of  it.  In  answer  he  said,  he  had  little  doubt,  of  being 
elected  a  delegate  from  Orleans  territory,  but  he  would  choose 
to  be  a  member,  and  insisted,  that  I  should  write  to  a  friend 
of  mine  (who  had  paid  him  the  most  marked  attention)  to  see  if 
the  thing  could  be  yet  set  on  foot,  and  to  inform  him,  he  would 
be  a  resident  in  Tennessee.  At  the  time  of  the  election,  he 
requested  me  to  communicate  the  answer  to  him  at  Natchez.  I 
complied  with  his  wishes,  the  answer  I  received  being  unfavour 
able  to  him.  About  the  same  time,  in  answer  to  a  letter  re- 


APPENDIX  485 

Reived  from  General  Wilkinson,  I  probably  wrote  the  words, 
recited  by  the  General  in  his  question  to  me.  What  I  had  done 
for  Colonel  Burr,  was  almost  wholly  dictated  by  my  friendship 
for  the  General.  That  letter  of  the  General's,  was  preserved  by 
accident,  among  a  bundle  of  uninteresting  papers,  for  four  or 
five  years ;  since  then  it  has  been  here,  and  is  now  presented  to 
the  committee. 

I  have  now  answered  all  the  questions  presented  me,  except 
that  couched  in  the  words,  "  Did  you  not  believe  him  sincere?" 
In  answer  to  which  I  say,  no  doubt  he  would  have  been  sin 
cerely  rejoiced  to  have  been  elected.  There  seemed  too  much 
mystery  in  his  conduct.  I  suspected  him  to  have  other  objects 
in  view,  to  which  I  could  not  penetrate.  These  objects,  I  then 
believed,  were  known  to  General  Wilkinson ;  but  I  had  no  idea 
at  that  time,  of  his  having  any  treasonable  project  in  his  head. 
I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

M.  LYON. 

[Affirmed  to,  on  the  25th  February,  1811,  before  E.  Bacon, 
Chairman  of  a  Committee,  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  con 
duct  of  Brigadier-General  James  Wilkinson."] 

The  following  Letter  accompanies  the  above  Deposition. 

["  PRIVATE.] 

Massac,  June  itfh,  1805. 

Dear  Sir. — An  opportunity  offering  by  Captain  Bird,  I  em 
brace  it  to  drop  you  a  line  of  remembrance. 

I  have  been  here  since  the  4th  instant,  and  should  have  sent 


486  APPENDIX 

for  you,  if  I  had  expected  so  long  a  detention,  as  I  wish  youii 
opinion  on  several  subjects,  inconvenient  to  letter. 

The  organizations  and  appointments  of  my  predecessors, 
with  the  system  of  jurisprudence  which  has  been  introduced, 
may,  I  fear,  subject  me  to  some  unpleasant  and  unprofitable 
alternatives.  In  general,  it  costs  much  more  to  undo  than  to 
do,  but  I  believe  it  is  always  better  to  correct  evils,  than  to 
submit  to  them. 

I  shall  reach  St.  Louis,  before  the  first  of  next  month;  shall 
confirm  the  past  by  proclamation,  and  will  take  time  for  obser 
vation  and  inquiry,  before  I  make  a  step.  From  what  I  have 
seen  and  heard  here,  I  find  opinions  of  men  and  things,  beyond 
the  great  river,  depend  so  much  on  sympathies  and  antipathies, 
that  I  can  place  no  confidence  in  what  I  do  hear.  Whom  do 
you  think  best  entitled  to  consideration,  merits  being  equal, 
the  voluntary  or  involuntary  vassals  of  Spain?  Will  you  come 
to  see  us,  and  when?  I  beg  you  to  believe,  a  visit  from  you 
will  give  me  pleasure.  I  shall  be  obliged  to  send  back  some 
boats  for  stores  and  provisions,  and  about  twenty-two  days 
hence,  you  may  find  a  passage  up  from  this  place  to  St.  Louis. 
Captain  Lewis  is  mounting  the  Mississippi.  He  has  sent  back 
a  large  boat  from  his  wintering  ground,  about  1600  miles  up 
the  Missouri,  and  by  Indian  report,  was  then  about  900  miles 
from  its  source,  from  whence  I  expect,  he  will  return  in  the 
autumn.  It  is  said,  Meigs  does  not  accept  his  appointment; 
in  that  case,  Easton  will  be  the  only  officer  of  the  government 
with  me.  The  commissioners  of  land  claims,  are  Mr.  Lucas, 
(of  congress)  Mr.  Penrose  of  Philadelphia,  and  a  Mr.  Donald 
son  of  Baltimore,  recorder;  they  and  the  secretary,  are  all  be 
hind.  Colonel  Burr  left  this  the  loth.  I  have  furloughed  D. 


APPENDIX 

Bissell,  agreeably  to  my  promise  to  you;  he  goes  by  New 

Orleans. 

Farewel,  God  bless  you. 

JAMES  WILKINSON." 
Honourable  M.  Lyon"a 

MATTHEW  LYON  TO  JOSIAH  QUINCY. 

I  discovered  that  very  friendly  personal  relations  existed  be 
tween  Colonel  Lyon  and  the  celebrated  Josiah  Quincy,  and  ad 
dressed  a  letter  to  President  Quincy's  son  and  biographer,  Mr. 
Edmund  Quincy,  not  knowing  of  his  death.  My  letter  was 
answered  by  Miss  Eliza  Susan  Quincy,  his  sister,  who  I  after 
wards  learned  had  aided  her  brother  materially  in  writing  the 
Life  of  their  distinguished  father.  Miss  Quincy  replied  as 
follows : 

"  WOLLASTON,  MASS.,  May  16,  1881. 
Mr.  MCLAUGHLIN: 

Your  letter  of  May  loth  was  received  by  H.  P.  Quincy, 
M.  D.,  the  son  of  my  late  brother,  Edmund  Quincy,  and  given 
to  me  to  answer. 

My  brother  Edmund  was  in  his  7oth  year;  he  enjoyed  his 
health  and  intellectual  vigor  to  the  last,  and  died  of  apoplexy, 
on  the  1 7th  of  May,  1877,  deeply  regretted  by  his  family  and 
friends,  by  whom  he  was  greatly  beloved  and  valued.  I  en 
close  a  poetical  tribute  to  his  memory  by  his  intimate  friend, 
J.  R.  Lowell,  our  present  Minister  in  England. 

In  reply  to  your  request,  I  enclose  two  letters  of  Mr.  Lyon's, 
which  you  need  not  return.  They  are  very  good  letters,  and 
I  shall  hope  you  will  send  me  a  copy  of  your  Memoir  when  it 
is  published.  If  I  find  any  more  of  these  letters  I  will  send 

^Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  II.     Appendix,  No.  LXVIII. 


488  APPENDIX 

them,  but  I  believe  these  are  all  which  exist.    Mr.  Lyon  was 
an  occasional,  not  a  regular,  correspondent  of  Mr.  Quincy. 

Sincerely  yrs., 

ELIZA  SUSAN  QUINCY. 

The  letters,  kindly  presented  to  me  by  Miss  Quincy,  are  here 

subjoined : 

"  EDDYVILLE,  December  13,  1812. 

Hon.  JOSIAH  QUINCY. 

My  good  friend: — By  the  last  mail  I  received  Documents 
under  your  stamp;  this  is  the  only  evidence  I  have  had  for 
some  time  that  I  am  remembered  by  a  man  I  very  much 
respect. 

I  may  tell  you  that  I  am  very  pleased  with  the  part  Massa 
chusetts  has  acted  in  the  Political  Drama  before  us,  her  Gov 
ernor  has  won  my  heart;  her  Assembly  have  acted  like  men 
who  sincerely  loved  their  country,  but  the  New  England  States 
are  (I  see)  beaten  in  the  Political  race  for  President.  The 
Democratic  spirit  has  carried  the  Nation  far  on  toward  ruin, 
but  I  cannot,  will  not  despair  for  this  Nation  at  the  foundation 
of  which  I  have  labored  with  as  much  zeal  as  a  devotee  ever 
labored  for  Heaven  or  his  God.  You  must  not  despair. 
Massachusetts  must  not  despair;  let  me  see  no  disposition  in 
her  to  disunion.  She  must  save  the  Nation  she  created;  she 
has  the  greatest  power  and  influence  to  do  so.  She  is  now 
regenerated  on  the  ancient  principles  of  the  Revolution,  let 
her  move  majestical  toward  the  main  object,  the  salvation  of 
the  Nation,  and  all  will  be  well.  Should  she  move  one  step 
toward  a  disssolution  of  the  Government,  she  loses  every 
friend  in  the  western  country;  she  loses  her  own  importance, 


APPENDIX  489 

and  her  treachery  may  sink  the  Nation  she  has  raisea.  Why, 
my  dear  sir,  have  you  withdrawn  from  the  public  stage  of  ac 
tion?  You  cannot  say  you  were  poor,  or  spending  your  for 
tune  at  a  rate  you  could  not  afford.  We  are  not  made  to  live 
for  ourselves;  where  God  and  nature  have  given  talents  and 
opportunities,  the  community  with  which  we  act  and  are  con 
nected  have  a  claim  on  him  to  whom  these  talents  and  oppor 
tunities  are  given.  You  have  had  much  mortification  it  is 
true,  but  you  have  been  paid  for  it  in  the  consolation  of  the 
men  whose  opinions  are  with  yours,  men  whom  you  know  to 
be  true  patriots. 

I  see  my  old  antitype  J.  Adams  is  yet  noticed.  I  cut  out 
two  slips  from  a  newspaper  merely  to  tell  you  by  the  inclosure 
of  them,  that  such  were  my  opinions  of  him  and  his  son  many 
years  ago.  He  and  I  offered  for  electors,  and  fared  much  alike. 
I  have  always  told  you  that  the  people  of  the  Western  country, 
notwithstanding  their  strong  prejudices  in  favor  of  Virginia, 
were  docile,  but  they  must  be  talked  to  face  to  face,  they  must 
be  informed,  they  must  be  courted.  I  have  not  had  leisure  for 
these  things,  but  the  misfortunes  that  have  befallen  me  in 
consequence  of  the  Embargoes  and  War  have  left  me  at  leisure 
to  attend  to  these  things,  and  I  will  do  it.  I  was  invited  to  be 
a  candidate  for  their  delegate  in  Missouri  Territory,  and  those 
who  invited  me  as  well  as  myself  were  persuaded  I  was  eligible; 
the  people  of  the  Territory  were  anxious  for  my  service,  but  a 
group  of  interested  lawyers  persuaded  them  I  was  ineligible, 
and  the  thing  was  given  up.  I  was  in  that  Territory  on  that 
and  other  business  when  the  hopeless  election  was  here.  It 
is  said  that  my  rival  Hopkins  is  dead;  I  think  this  report  is  not 
true,  but  he  is  politically  dead,  and  when  opportunity  presents, 


490  APPENDIX 

I  will  make  those  exertions  the  custom  of  this  country  requires 
in  order  to  be  elected.  Give  my  respects  to  my  friends,  and 
assure  them  I  have  not  forgotten  them;  they  will  be  a  majority 
in  the  next  Congress,  and  they  can  check  the  progress  of  the 
Nation  to  ruin. 

I  write  by  this  mail  to  my  brother  Chittenden,  and  shall  not 
repeat  to  him  what  I  have  said  to  you. 

With  affectionate  regard,  I  am  truly  your  friend, 

M.  LYON." 

SECOND  LETTER  TO  MR.  QUINCY. 

"  EDDYVILLE,  April  6th,  1814. 
Hon.  JOSIAH  QUINCY. 

Dear  Sir:  The  step  I  most  dread  and  have  ever  dreaded 
seems  ready  to  be  taken,  I  mean  the  separation  of  these  States, 
and  that  through  the  folly  and  apathy  of  the  National  Govern 
ment,  the  audacity  and  ignorant  daring  insolence  of  its  sup 
porters  on  the  one  part,  and  the  want  of  patience  and  forbear 
ance  of  the  suffering  people  of  the  North  and  East  on  the 
other.  Those  sufferings  are  great,  very  great  indeed,  and  such 
in  point  of  magnitude  and  provocation  as  no  other  people  with 
equal  spirit  and  understanding  would  bear,  when  they  could 
throw  off  the  burthen  with  the  same  convenience;  yet  I  still 
hope  that  New  England  will  act  worthy  of  themselves.  They 
are  truly  the  most  enlightened  people  on  earth,  they  can  shift 
better  under  adverse  circumstances,  of  course  bear  with  priva 
tions  better  than  any  other  people  on  earth,  and  my  daily 
prayer  is  that  they  continue  their  allegiance  to  the  Union  until 
God  shall  turn  the  hearts  of  their  domestic  oppressors,  or 
until  Providence  shall  force  a  peace  on  our  rulers  which  they 
cannot  refuse. 


APPENDIX 

I  know,  my  dear  Sir,  that  the  gasconading  threats  of  the 
would-be  conquerors  of  Canada  cannot  intimidate  the  sons  of 
the  men  who  refused  to  submit  to  British  mandates,  and  sup 
ported  that  refusal  with  energy  and  effect  in  the  field  of  battle. 

When  I  reflect  on  the  danger  of  separation,  I  ask  myself 
what  is  this  danger  incurred  for?  and  it  seems  to  me  like  noth 
ing  at  all;  there  are  no  orders  in  council  now  to  contend  about; 
nearly  all  the  ports  England  declared  to  be  blockaded  are  now 
open  to  Neutrals;  we  have  declared  that  we  will  not  employ 
British  seamen,  which  will  in  treaty  draw  from  the  British  Min 
istry  a  declaration  that  while  we  act  up  to  that  declaration  they 
will  not  molest  our  seamen.  I  hope  Bonaparte's  humiliation 
has  emancipated  our  government,  so  that  they  are  not  obliged 
to  carry  on  this  War  in  obedience  to  his  mandate,  and  instead 
of  a  peace  between  some  of  the  Northern  States  and  Britain 
we  shall  hear  soon  of  a  National  peace  with  that  power.  I 
confess  the  prospect  is  not  so  brilliant  as  I  wish,  when  I  see 
the  names  of  those  appointed  to  negotiate,  and  when  I  observe 
the  delay  and  the  place  our  Government  has  chosen  for  nego 
tiation.  If  they  had  been  in  right  earnest  they  would  have 
sent  a  mission  direct  to  London,  and  ere  this  had  a  cessation  of 
hostilities. 

Permit  me,  my  dear  sir,  once  more  to  remind  you  of  the  im 
portance  of  preserving  the  Union  to  the  last  extremity.  Be 
sides  the  reasons  commonly  urged,  and  well  enforced  by  Mr. 
Dexter,  your  dexterous  democratic  candidate,  the  New  England 
people  ought  to  consider  their  very  limited  boundary;  the  ex 
tensive  vacant  world  west  of  them,  to  a  share  of  which  they  are 
entitled ;  the  importance  of  keeping  open  the  road  for  their  vast 
surplus  population  to  emigrate  into  other  parts  of  the  same 


492 


APPENDIX 


Nation,  carrying  with  them  their  steady  habits,  their  industry 
and  their  ingenuity,  to  which  every  other  people  pay  deference 
and  give  place.  I  can  remember  when  nine-tenths  of  the  peo 
ple  of  New  York  State  were  Dutch,  when  their  population  was 
inferior  to  that  of  Rhode  Island.  They  are  the  first  of  the 
States  now,  and  they  are  New  England  people.  Ohio  State 
will  contain  within  a  few  years  a  majority  of  New  England 
people;  several  counties  in  Virginia  have  majorities  of  New 
England  people.  You  would  be  surprised  to  see  how  the 
little  Colony  from  New  England  here  has  Yankeefied  the  peo 
ple.  These  are  considerations  of  no  small  weight,  and  ought 
to  be  thrown  in  the  scale  against  the  present  sufferings  of  New 
England.  They  have  a  right  to  consider  that  their  suffermgs 
and  vexations  will  be  immeasurably  compensated  by  keeping 
open  the  door  for  their  posterity  to  emigrate  to  comfort,  opu 
lence  and  consideration,  if  not  to  eminence. 

I  am,  with  truly  affectionate  regard,  your  friend, 

M.  LYON. 

P.  S. — My  good  friend:  I  frequently  hear  from  you.  I  ob 
serve  your  efforts  to  restore  our  Nation  to  its  usual  state  of 
health  and  peace  with  pleasure.  I  see  with  indignation  the 
foolish  ravings  of  those  who  hate  you  because  they  know  you 
not.  I  take  your  word  for  it  that  to  remember  me  is  not  un 
pleasant  to  you.  I  would  like  to  see  the  sentiments  contained 
herein  published. 

M.  L." 

I  was  informed  by  the  late  Mr.  Thompson  A.  Lyon,  of 
Louisville,  that  among  the  most  intimate  of  his  grandfather's 
friends  were  Nathaniel  Macon  of  North  Carolina,  styled  by  Jef- 


APPENDIX  493 

ferson  "  Ultimus  Romaiiorum"  Stevens  Thompson  Mason  of 
Virginia,  and  Albert  Gallatin,  the  ablest  of  America's  early 
financiers.  My  informant  said  that  his  grandfather  received 
many  letters  from  these  gentlemen,  some  of  which  were  of 
great  historical  value.  He  went  to  Eddyville  from  his  home  in 
Louisville  to  search  for  them  for  me,  but  unfortunately  all 
were  gone,  and  the  quest  was  unsuccessful.  The  following1 
letter  from  Mr.  Gallatin  is  taken  from  his  published  works: 

LETTER  FROM  ALBERT  GALLATIN  TO  MATTHEW  LYON.« 

"  NEW  YORK,  May  7,  1816. 

Sir. — I  was  much  gratified  by  the  receipt  of  your  friendly- 
letter  of  29th  October  last,  which  ought  to  have  been  sooner 
acknowledged,  but  which  I  will  not,  before  my  departure  for 
Europe,  leave  unanswered.  I  am  sorry  for  your  losses,  but 
hope  that  the  property  you  have  left  will  be  sufficient  to  make 
you  as  comfortable  as  your  active  industry  and  knowledge  of 
business  certainly  deserve. 

The  war  has  been  productive  of  evil  and  good,  but  I  think 
the  good  preponderates.  Independent  of  the  loss  of  lives,  and 
of  the  losses  in  property  by  individuals,  the  war  has  laid  the 
foundation  of  permanent  taxes  and  military  establishments, 
which  the  Republicans  had  deemed  unfavorable  to  the  happi 
ness  and  free  institutions  of  the  country.  But  under  our  for 
mer  system  we  were  becoming  too  selfish,  too  much  attached 
exclusively  to  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  above  all,  too  much 
confined  in  our  political  feelings  to  local  and  State  objects. 
The  war  has  renewed  and  reinstated  the  national  feelings  and 

<*  Writings  of  Albert  Gallatin,  edited  by  Henry  Adams,  vol.  I,  p.  700- 
701. 


494  APPENDIX 

character  which  the  Revolution  had  given,  and  which  were 
daily  lessened.  The  people  have  now  more  general  objects  of 
attachment  with  which  their  pride  and  political  opinions  are 
connected.  They  are  more  Americans ;  they  feel  and  act  more 
as  a  nation;  and  I  hope  that  the  permanency  of  the  Union  is 
-  thereby  better  secured. 

It  is  with  reluctance  that  I  have  accepted  the  French  mis 
sion  ;  and  I  hope  that  my  absence  will  be  short,  and  that  I  will 
soon  be  able  to  return  with  my  family  in  the  bosom  of  my 
friends  and  country.  My  private  business,  to  which  I  had 
during  the  last  fifteen  years  hardly  attended,  has  suffered  and 
will  continue  to  suffer.  Amongst  other  objects,  I  fear  I  may 
have  lost  the  tract  of  666  2-3  acres  on  Cumberland  River,  hav 
ing  never  taken  any  measures  to  remove  the  man  who  had 
taken  possession.  I  do  not  know  his  name;  and  I  will  thank 
you  to  communicate  it  to  Mr.  Robert  Alexander,  President  of 
the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  at  Frankfort,  together  with  any  infor 
mation  you  have  respecting  that  man's  claim  and  disposition, 
and  the  quality  and  value  of  the  land.  I  have  given  to  Mr. 
Alexander  a  power  of  attorney  for  my  Kentucky  lands,  and 
told  him  that  you  would  give  him  that  information. 

Mrs.  Gallatin  sends  you  her  compliments.  I  never  received 
your  letter  respecting  a  glass-house  and  the  procuring  of  glass- 
blowers.  I  would  attend  to  it  if  I  knew  what  capital  you  and 
your  friends  can  employ  in  the  establishment.  On  that  point 
success  depends.  There  must  be  no  embarrassment,  or  busi 
ness  would  be  ruinous.  I  commenced  mine  with  about  ten 
thousand  dollars,  and  made  no  profit  during  the  first  years,  nor 
until  the  capital  amounted  to  near  twenty  thousand.  That 
now  employed  in  our  glass-works,  including  outstanding  debts, 


APPENDIX  495 

exceeds  forty  thousand,  and  gives  us  an  annual  profit  of  about 
eight  thousand,  of  which  only  one-seventh  part  belongs  to 
me.  I  must  observe  that  there  is  an  inconvenience  in  your 
situation.  You  are  below  the  greater  part  of  the  fast-improv 
ing  country  north  of  the  Ohio,  in  which  the  great  consumption 
of  glass  takes  place.  The  works  situated  high  up  the  Ohio,  at 
Pittsburg  and  above,  have  in  that  respect  a  great  advantage. 
At  New  Orleans  market  you  must  meet  the  competition  of  the 
cheap  German  glass. 

I  have  lost  three  old  friends, — Mr.  Savary,  Thos.  Clare,  and 
Mr.  Smilie.     You  have  heard  that  Dr.  Jones,  of  Virginia,  Rich 
ard  Brent,  and  Stanford,  of  North  Carolina,  are  also  dead. 
With  sincere  regard,  &c., 

ALBERT  GALLATIN." 

LETTER  OF  COLONEL  LYON  TO  SENATOR  ARMISTED  C.  MASON. 

The  losses  of  Colonel  Lyon,  referred  to  by  Mr.  Gallatin,  led 
to  the  first  application  for  office,  except  from  the  people  at  the 
ballot-box,  which  Lyon  ever  made  to  government.  It  proved 
successful.  President  Monroe,  unlike  Mr.  Madison,  was  his 
friend,  and  appointed  him  United  States  Factor  to  the  Cherokee 
Nation.  Colonel  Lyon  had  been  more  in  the  habit  of  bestowing 
patronage  on  others  than  asking  for  it  on  his  own  behalf.  This 
letter  to  Mr.  Mason,  who  soon  after  fell  in  a  duel,  is  interesting 
and  of  historic  value. 

I  am  indebted  for  it  to  the  granddaughter  by  marriage  of 
President  Monroe,  Mrs.  S.  L.  Gouverneur,  Jr.,  of  Washington, 
D.  C.  With  a  kindness  which  I  cannot  too  gratefully  acknowl 
edge,  Mrs.  Gouverneur  copied  it  for  me  from  the  collection  of 
President  Monroe's  invaluable  literary  remains.  The  State 


496  APPENDIX 

Department  was  negotiating  for  the  purchase  by  Government 
of  the  collection,  and  hence  Mrs.  Gouverneur  could  not  send 
me  the  original.  If  all  the  possessors  of  valuable  documents 
were  as  obliging  as  this  cultivated  lady,  our  literary  men  would 
be  greatly  assisted  and  benefited: 

"  FRANKFORT,  /any.  i6th,  1817. 
Hon.  ARMISTED  C.  MASON: 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  here  to  repel  an  attempt  to  remove  the  Seat 
of  Justice  from  Eddyville  and  have  spent  the  Christmas  holi 
days  with  your  friends. 

Until  I  saw  him  here  I  had  but  little  acquaintance  with  your 
brother  Jack.  I  am  extremely  pleased  with  him,  and  I  do 
hope  you  will  succeed  in  getting  him  the  place  of  District 
Judge.  Should  he  obtain  the  appointment  I  do  believe  he  will 
do  honour  to  the  station,  to  the  family,  and  to  himself. 

By  having  lost  a  fine  vessel,  and  the  greater  part  of  a  valu 
able  cargo  at  the  commencement  of  the  late  War,  and  by  an 
immense  loss  occasioned  by  the  first  Embargo,  I  am  reduced  to 
dependence  on  my  children — children  whom  I  had  properly 
educated  to  business,  to  morals,  to  integrity,  and  a  proper  sense 
of  honour.  They  are  in  a  good  way,  and  will  ever  use  me 
kindly,  but  dependence  is  dependence,  however  the  kindness 
of  friends  may  soften  it.  By  giving  all  my  attention  to  the 
building  that  ship  and  providing  that  cargo,  I  lost  the  pending 
election,  and  my  standing  in  the  Nation,  and  my  situation  is 
so  remote,  that  I  found  when  I  came  here  that  I  was  as  much 
of  a  stranger  as  if  I  had  just  come  from  Russia.  Having 
taken  it  in  my  head  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  to  ask  from 
the  Government  an  office,  I  know  of  no  person  so  proper  to 


APPENDIX 

apply  through  as  the  son  of  my  long  lost,  best  friend,  and  I  do 
this  because  my  situation  with  the  Delegation  of  this  State  is 
such  that  I  have  nothing  to  expect  from  them.  I  know 
neither  of  our  Senators.  I  never  was  intimate  with  Mr.  Clay, 
and  he  knows  I  always  preferred  Mr.  Pope  to  him;  —  Johnson 
and  Desha  have  long  hated  me  for  my  opposition  to  the  Em 
bargo  System.  McLean,  Sharp  and  Taul  represent  my  old 
district,  —  to  the  first  I  have  always  had  an  aversion,  —  the 
second,  if  he  ever  was  a  friend,  he  was  a  cold  one,  the  last  was 
a  friend.  All  three  impute  to  my  pen  a  portion  of  that  zeal 
against  the  Compensation  law  which  has  allowed  them  to  stay 
at  home  in  future.*  McKee  only  do  I  know  of  the  balance  of 
the  Kentucky  delegation.  He  thinks  well  of  me,  but  as  we 
live  remote  from  each  other  and  we  have  corresponded  but 
little  since  I  left  Congress,  I  have  no  more  to  expect  from  him 
than  a  good  word  whenever  he  is  called  upon. 

I  see  there  is  a  probability  of  a  Territorial  Government  in 
the  Eastern  part  of  the  new  Mississippi  Territory.  I  have  long 
wished  to  remove  to  that  country.  The  climate  would  suit  me; 
I  believe  my  life,  health  and  strength  have  been  lengthened  ten 
years  by  my  removal  from  Vermont.  There  has  been  a  con 
stant  removal  to  that  country  from  my  old  Congressional  Dis 
trict,  and  the  best  friends  I  have  had  in  the  Western  country  are 
there.  Not  having  the  means  to  establish  myself  I  wish  for 
one  of  the  appointments  there  which  the  Government  will  have 
in  their  power  to  bestow,  and  I  may  be  thought  qualified  to 
fill. 

Believing  you  will  be  disposed  to  serve  me,  and  thinking 


"  salary  grab,"  like  that  of  1873,  proved  fatal  to  nearly  every 
member  who  voted  for  it. 


498  APPENDIX 

it  no  more  than  proper  that  you  should  be  able  to  speak  of  me 
understanding!}-,  I  will  give  you  a  short  sketch  of  my  political 
life. 

X  *In  1774  when  British  encroachments  on  our  rights  was  rais 
ing  the  spirit  of  resistance,  I  laid  before  the  youngerly  men  in 
my  neighborhood,  in  the  country  now  called  Vermont,  a  plan 
for  an  armed  association  which  was  adopted.  We  armed  and 
clothed  ourselves  uniformly.  We  hired  an  old  veteran  to  teach 
us  discipline,  and  we  each  of  us  took  the  command  in  turn,  so 
that  every  one  should  know  the  duty  of  every  station.  With 
a  part  of  this  company  of  Minute  Men,  immediately  after  the 
Lexington  battle  I  joined  Ethan  Allen.  Eighty-five  of  us  took 
from  one  hundred  and  forty  British  veterans,  the  fort  Ticonde- 

/      '*v — -*>~ 

ta^s/roga,  which- -contained  the  artillery  and  warlike  stores  which 
drove  the  British  from  Boston,  and  aided  in  taking  Burgoyne 
and  Cornwallis.  That  fort  contained  -wben-we  took  -it  more 
cannon,  mortar  pieces  and  other  military  stores  than  could  be 
found  in  all  the  revolted  Colonies.  At  the  rate  captors  have 
oJ*tt*»-£-  been  paid  in  the  late  War,  our  phmder  which  we  gave  to  the 
Nation  without  even  pay  for  our  time  was  worth  more  than  a 

million  of  dollars.    I  persuaded  many  of  the  Royal  Irish 

Company  taken  there  to  join  us,  who  afterwards  distinguished 
themselves  in  our  cause.  In  the  same  month,  April  1775,  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  an  armed  sloop  in  the  Lake  it  was  neces- 
\  sary  to  mount  two  heavy  pieces  of  ordnance  at  Crown  Point. 
Our  European  artillery ists  said  it  could  not  be  obtained:  with 
out  a  ruinous  delay.  With  the  assistance  of  a  few  back-woods 
men,  and  some  timber  readily  procured,  I  mounted  them  and 
put  the  match  to  the  first  cannon  ever  fired  under  the  auspices 
of  the  American  Eagle,  whose  renown  has  spread  far  and  wide. 


APPENDIX  499 

The  first  summer  I  was  appointed  one  of  the  first  Revolution 
ary  adjutants.     In  1776  I  accepted  of  a  second  Lieutenancy  in 
a  corps  designed  for  the  defense  of  the  Vermont  frontier;  their 
destination  was  to  be  fixed  by  the  Committee  of  Safety,  of 
which  I  was  a  member.     General  Gates  influenced  by  design 
ing  Tories,  ordered  the  party  then  consisting  of  less  than  100 
men,  70  miles  in  advance  of  our  army,  and  within  40  miles  of 
the  enemy's  grand  army;  the  men  knowing  this  was  contrary 
to  the  will  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  their  fathers,  and  their 
friends,  mutinied  and  left  the  station.    The  officers  were  blamed 
by  the  exasperated  Gates,  and  I  who  had  done  everything  to 
support  the  General's  orders  was,  with  the  rest  of  the  officers, 
cashiered.     Not  discouraged  by  this  ill  usage,  and  being  re 
ceived  with  open  arms  by  my  Colonel,  and  the  other  officers  of 
my  militia  regiment,  I  was  in  my  station  of  Adjutant  in  the 
retreat  from  Ticonderoga  in  1777,  and  on  account  of  the  ser 
vices  I  rendered  that  army  in  that  difficult  retreat,  the  Generals 
who  had  seen  me  abused  the  year  before,  procured  for  me  an 
appointment  of  Paymaster  in  the  regiment  on  the  Continental 
Establishment,  with  the  rank  of  Captain  in  the  army.     In  this 
situation,  besides  attending  to  the  duties  of  my  station,  I  with 
my  gun  and  bayonet  was  in  many  rencounters,  and  assisted  at 
the  taking  of  Burgoyne,  and  had  the  honour  and  pleasure  of 
seeing  his  army  pile  their  arms.     In  1778  the  regiment  having 
lost  near  two-thirds  of  its  number  in  the  many  battles  and 
affairs  of  1777,  was  ordered  to  the  Southward,  where  it  was 
expected  it  would  be  incorporated  with  other  regiments,  and 
the  supernumerary  officers  discharged.    At  the  request  of  my 
Vermont  friends  I  resigned  my  station  in  the  army,  and  the 
next  week  was  chosen  and  appointed  a  Captain  in  the  militia. 


5°°  APPENDIX 

I  was  immediately  appointed  Paymaster-General  of  the  Troops 
and  the  Militia  of  the  State,  Secretary  to  the  Governor  and 
Council,  and  assistant  to  the  Treasurer.     At  the  next  election 
I  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  to  which  station  I 
was  afterwards  18  times  re-elected.  Twice  I  was  returned  from 
two  places,  having  a  home  in  both.     One  place  chose  me  fear 
ing  the  other  would  neglect  me.     In  1778  and  1779  our  militia 
was  much  employed  on  the  frontiers  of  New  York  and  Ver 
mont;  they  had  the  choice  of  regimental  officers,  and  such  was 
my  reputation  among  them  that  in  1780  I  had  the  vote  of  every 
officer  and  every  soldier  in  the  Regiment  to  fill  the  vacancy 
occasioned  by  the  loss  of  our  chief  Colonel.     The  unanimity 
was  occasioned  by  the  Lieutenant  Colonel  insisting  that  the 
command  of  the  regiment  ought  to  be  given  to  me,  and  that 
the  example  he  set  ought  to  be  followed  by  the  Majors  and 
every  officer  that  outranked  me.    This  station  I  held  until  by 
the  Peace  I  was  allowed  to  move  out  of  the  bounds  of  the  regi 
ment  on  to  lands  I  owned  in  the  country  that  had  been  occu 
pied  by  the  enemy.     At  this  time  I  renounced  every  public 
station,  except  that  of  representing  the  people  in  Conventions 
or  Legislature,  besides  serving  in  many  clerkships.     I  was  fre 
quently  solicited  to  be  a  Judge,  and  once  was  appointed  against 
my  will  and  refusal.    Although  I  lost  almost  all  my  property 
in  the  early  part  of  the    War   by   the    encroachment  of  the 
enemy,  and  my  giving  my  whole  time  to  military  pursuits,  I 
had  so  attended  to  my  affairs  in  the  more  advanced  stages  of 
the  war,  and  towards  its  close,  that  I  was  able  under  the  most 
favorable  auspices  to  set  agoing  a  number  of  mills  and  manu 
factures  which  made  me  rich ;  so  that  when  the  struggles  com 
menced  between  aristocrats  and  democrats,  I  had  wealth,  high 


APPENDIX  501 

political  standing,  an  established  character,  and  powerful  con 
nections  attached  to  me  by  long  riveted  confidence,  as  well  as 
matrimonial  affinity,  to  throw  in  the  scale.  Nature,  reflection 
and  patriotism  led  me  to  take  the  Democratic  side. 

On  a  sudden  I  was  surrounded  by  newspapers  containing 
high  toned  British  doctrines  flowing  in  upon  us  from  the  hire 
ling  presses  of  New  Hampshire  in  the  east,  Sedgwick  &  Co.  in 
the  south,  New  York  apostates  in  the  west,  and  Royalists  of 
Canada  in  the  north.  Tory  doctrines  were  flowing  freely  from 
the  favoured  presses  of  Vermont.  The  Republicans,  save  the 
family  with  which  I  was  connected,  were  poor — all  were  parsi 
monious  ;  while  they  cried  out  for  a  Republican  press,  and  flat 
tered  me  on  the  score  of  my  wealth  and  generosity,  they  would 
not  advance  a  cent.  I  gave  $1000 — for  press,  types  and  appa 
ratus.  I  hired  a  printer,  the  best  Republican  essays  were 
selected.  My  pen  was  not  idle;  newspapers  were  dispensed, 
pay  or  no  pay,  by  carriers  who  were  to  give  half  the  price,  but 
they  always  complained  they  could  not  collect  their  half.  I 
had  a  paper  mill,  I  had  pamphlets  containing  these  essays  ready 
to  give  every  traveler.  By  this  means  the  Republican  doc 
trines  were  scattered  through  the  Northern  States  which  are 
now  bearing  fruit.  By  my  exertions  to  keep  Vermont  in 
formed,  the  district  I  lived  in  was  in  the  worst  of  times  repre 
sented  by  a  Republican,  and  when  it  was  thought  that  Israel 
Smith  was  growing luke-warm  the  people  sent  me  to  Congress. 
Besides  the  original  cost  of  my  press  and  types  which  were  so 
worn  out  in  the  public  service  that  I  could  not  sell  them  for 
$100,  the  keeping  that  press  going  did  not  cost  me  less  thaa 
$3000  in  five  years. 


5O2  APPENDIX 

In  '98  and  '99  Mr.  Jefferson  pressed  me  much  to  obtain  st 
printer  to  print  a  Republican  paper  at  Staunton.  After  con 
siderable  inquiry  I  could  persuade  no  one  I  thought  compe 
tent  to  the  undertaking  willing  to  go  there;  I  had  a  nephew 
brought  up  in  my  family — a  pretty  good  workman  and  indus 
trious,  but  not  likely  to  make  an  editor;  I  stated  this  to  Mr. 
Jefferson;  he  said  he  would  do,  the  editorship  would  be  at 
tended  to  by  a  friend  on  the  spot.  At  his  request  communi 
cated  through  your  father  I  brought  him  to  Philadelphia,  and 
he  was  at  the  cost  of  the  Virginia  Republicans  set  up  in  Staun 
ton.  After  a  little  while  he  complained  that  the  funds  pro 
vided  were  exhausted — that  the  paper  would  not  support  itself, 
but  he  thought  if  he  could  get  a  small  book  store,  he  could 
make  a  living  out  of  both.  I  procured  for  him  $1000  worth  of 
books  and  sent  them  to  him.  After  worrying  along  for  some 
time  he  got  sick  and  in  debt;  his  office  and  the  remnant  of  the 
book  store  were  sold  to  pay  his  debts.  I  have  never  received 
a  cent  for  my  $1000. 

^  You  can  but  recollect  our  victory  over  Federalism  by  Mr. 
Jefferson's  election,  and  the  part  I  bore  in  that  memorable 
transaction.  Had  I  left  the  House,  my  colleague  would  have 
given  the  vote  of  Vermont.  Dent  would  have  left  the  House 
also,  and  Maryland's  vote  would  have  been  for  Burr,  and  Linn 
would  have  changed  his  vote ;  he  had  repeatedly  signified  to  me 
that  he  would;  in  that  case  Burr  would  have  been  elected. 
Brown  of  Rhode  Island  was  placed  by  my  side  for  the  purpose 
of  corrupting  me; — he  did  his  best.  It  was  believed  by  your 
father  and  many  others  that  I  might  have  received  $30,000 
merely  to  absent  myself.  I  have  no  claim  on  this  score,  except 
the  claim  I  have  to  having  it  remembered  I  did  my  duty  under 


APPENDIX  5°3 

circumstances  which  might  have  been  considered  by  some  as 
temptations.  I  could  not  be  tempted  by  all  the  wealth  of  the 
aristocracy  to  fail  in  the  duty  I  owed  the  nation  at  that  time. 
Last  August  the  people  of  the  District  were  extremely  anxious 
to  have  me  represent  them  in  Congress  again.  But  previous  to 
our  having  knowledge  of  the  Compensation  Law,  and  the 
stir  occasioned  by  it,  I  had  pledged  myself  to  support  one  Pat- 
ton — a  smart  sensible  lawyer  in  an  adjoining  county  who  had 
been  of  use  to  us  in  the  Legislature  of  the  State.  When  he 
could  not  be  elected,  they  wished  him  to  consent  to  my  offer 
ing;  he  persisted  he  could  be  elected.  New  offered  and  was 
elected  when  his  supporters  chiefly  voted  for  him,  because  they 
would  not  have  a  lawyer.  The  probability  is  that  at  the  next 
election  I  can  be  elected  if  my  luck  changes. 

From  Mr.  Madison  I  have  nothing  to  expect,  although 
I  do  not  think  there  is  a  man  in  the  world  that  has 
a  higher  opinion  of  my  political  knowledge  or  integrity. 
I  have  conversed  much  with  him  on  matters  wherein  we 
differed;  he  has  felt  the  weight  and  justice  of  my  obser 
vations.  He  has  felt  the  weight  of  my  pen  when  it  has 
followed  his,  but  he  knows  I  opposed  his  election,  and  that 
I  always  preferred  Mr.  Monroe  to  him,  whom  I  have  ever 
esteemed.  I  was  pleased  when  he  went  to  France.  I  was  one 
of  those  who  at  Philadelphia  gave  him  a  public  welcome  home 
when  Mr.  Adams  and  his  party  turned  a  scornful  eye  to  him. 
When  I  took  the  tour  of  Virginia  on  my  way  to  this  country, 
agreeably  to  the  wishes  of  your  father  and  his  friends,  I  zeal 
ously  recommended  James  Monroe  for  Governor,  and  a  gen 
eral  ticket  for  President.  I  spent  more  than  a  month  in  Vir 
ginia  on  that  tour;  being  just  out  of  prison,  I  was  looked 


504  APPENDIX 

to  as  a  martyr,  and  every  word  had  weight.  I  urged  his  ap 
pointment  to  the  English  Embassy.  I  was  pleased  with  his 
conduct  there  and  with  his  Treaty.  I  defended  and  ever  de 
fended  his  character;  I  defended  him  in  the  papers  in  our  part 
of  Kentucky,  while  the  papers  hereabouts  were  vilifying  and 
belittling  him.  I  lost  my  election  for  elector  by  80  votes  be 
cause  the  printers  in  this  part  of  the  State,  whose  papers  chiefly 
circulate  in  the  greater  part  of  the  lower  third  part,  or  nearer 
half  of  the  State,  which  formed  our  district,  would  not  insert 
my  name  as  a  candidate,  so  that  I  have  nothing  to  fear  from  a 
difference  of  opinion  between  Mr.  Monroe  and  myself. 
I  am,  dear  sir,  with  great  respect  and  affection, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

M.  LYON. 

P.  S. — I  have  written  to  my  old  friend  Macon,  to  friend 
McKee,  and  to  my  old  acquaintance  Tichenor  in  the  Senate. 

I  wish  you  to  converse  with  them  on  the  subject. 

M.  L." 

A  POLITICAL  CURIOSITY. 

The  Appendix  would  be  incomplete  without  Colonel  Lyon's 
letter  to  Niles's  "Register,"  written  in  April,  1822, three  months 
before  his  death,  and  published  in  the  "  Register  "  December 
7,  1822.  Mr.  Niles,  in  introducing  it  .in  his  columns,  says: 
"  It  contains  a  large  portion  of  wholesome  truth,  and  may  be 
regarded  as  that  which  we  have  called  it — a  political  curiosity." 
But  it  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that  the  editor  saw  fit  to  omit 
Lyon's  opinions  of  several  candidates  for  the  Presidency,  and 
his  frank  and  free  remarks  on  their  claims  and  competency. 


APPENDIX  505 

He  knew  public  men  thoroughly,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  tell 
ing  the  truth  inflexibly.  Hence  the  pity  his  manly  opinions 
were  suppressed  by  timid  Mr.  Niles.  This  letter  is  in  Colonel 
Lyon's  characteristic  style,  and,  as  his  last  public  utterance, 
may  be  regarded  as  a  farewell  address  to  his  fellow- 
citizens  : 

"Mr.  Niles:  A  quotation  from  a  Washington  city  paper, 
exulting  in  the  continued  carnival  and  the  constant  routine  of 
dissipation  kept  up  in  that  Modern  Venice,  has  roused  the  dor 
mant  pen  of  a  man  of  old  times,  and  led  him  to  request  a  place 
in  your  Register  for  his  lucubrations  on  the  much  agitated 
subject,  the  next  presidential  election.  Nothing  could  more 
accord  with  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  those  I  converse  with, 
than  your  determined  opposition  to  a  congressional  caucus  on 
this  subject.  No  place  so  improper  for  president-making  as 
Washington,  in  which  the  most  eminent  sycophants  of  the 
nation  are  gathered  together. 

What  habits  of  dissipation  and  extravagance  have  the  rulers 
of  this  republican  nation  descended  to  since  the  declaration  of 
our  independence.  In  those  days  we  recollected  with  consola 
tion  and  pleasure  what  was  said  to  their  master  by  the  Spanish 
envoys  sent  to  treat  with  the  revolted  Netherlander,  whose 
negotiators  furnished  their  frugal  meals  from  their  own  wallets: 
"  Such  men,"  said  the  haughty  Spaniards,  "  cannot  be  con 
quered,  their  frugality  will  save  them."  In  former  times,  we 
prided  ourselves  in  the  simplicity  of  our  habits,  and  the  unos- 
tentatiousness  of  our  rulers. 

Luxury,  dissipation,  extravagance  and  effeminacy,  their  con 
comitants,  have  been  the  destruction  of  many  ancient  nations 
besides  proud  Rome,  which  from  being  mistress  of  the  world, 


506  APPENDIX 

has  dwindled  to  the  mere  patrimony  of  a  pontiff.  Every  per 
son  conversant  with  the  history  of  the  French  revolution, 
knows  that  the  dissipation,  the  luxury,  the  debauchery,  effemi 
nacy  and  the  rapacity  of  the  court,  brought  on  the  bloody 
scenes  and  the  heartrending  miseries  which  that  giddy  nation 
has  suffered.  We  have  before  us  the  warning  fate  of  the 
British  nation,  where  the  avails  of  the  hard  earnings  and  the 
life  labor  of  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  are  screwed 
from  them  to  glut  the  rapacity  of  an  individual,  who  regards 
them  less  than  he  does  his  dogs.  Time  was  when  the  people 
of  the  British  Isles  would  not  have  borne  with  this;  but,  with 
the  people's  money,  the  devouring  government  buys  men 
and  arms  to  enable  it  to  wrest  the  means  of  defence  from  the 
oppressed,  build  prisons  to  incarcerate,  and  gallowses  to  hang 
those  on  who  dare  to  murmur  or  complain.  However  distant 
from  us  this  state  of  things  may  seem  to  be,  dissipation,  ex 
travagance  and  luxury  is  the  sure  road  that  leads  to  it.  Our 
civil  list  expenditure  has  increased  within  about  thirty  years, 
faster  than  ever  did  that  of  Great  Britain:  while  our  popula 
tion  has  been  increasing  at  the  rate  of  from  four  to  ten,  the 
expenditure  for  support  of  our  national  government  has  more 
than  ten  folded;  for  the  year  1790,  $141,492.73  cents  was  the 
appropriation ;  of  late  years  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  has 
been  appropriated  for  the  support  of  the  civil  list.  About  two 
thirds  of  this  sum,  besides  a  considerable  share  of  many  other 
appropriations,  is  spent  in  our  beggarly  capital,  too  much  of 
which  is  applied  to  purposes  of  corruption  and  political  pros 
titution.  In  1790,  when  the  necessaries  of  life  were  about  the 
same  price  that  they  are  now,  $16,750  paid  the  salaries  of  the 
secretaries,  the  comptroller,  the  auditor,  the  treasurer,  and  the 


APPENDIX  5O7 

register,  and  $800  each  was  appropriated  for  the  salary  of  th^ 
first  clerks.  In  1821,  there  was  appropriated  for  the  salaries 
of  the  officers  of  the  same  denomination  $51,500,  and  $1,800 
were  given  to  an  inferior  clerk. 

It  is  not  merely  on  account  of  the  number  of  mendicants 
begging  alms  in  the  streets,  that  I  call  Washington  our  "  beg 
garly  capital."  They  are  much  easier  got  rid  of  than  the  beg 
gars  to  be  met  with  in  higher  life. 

While  I  sojourned  in  that  City  I  was  almost  daily  assailed 
by  a  host  of  clerks  complaining  of  the  parsimony  of  congress, 
the  scanty  pittance  allowed  them,  and  the  expenses  of  living.  I 
have  often  been  tired  with  hearing  one  or  other  of  them  com 
pare  his  salary  and  his  duties  with  those  of  more  favored  clerks, 
always  insisting  that  his  duties  were  more  important  and  more 
difficult  than  the  other  whose  salary  was  higher.  I  recollect 
one  of  the  clerks  lamenting,  that  he  had  to  give  two  dollars 
that  morning  for  about  a  quart  of  green  peas,  and  a  dollar  for  a 
pair  of  small  chickens.  This  was  so  early  in  the  season  that  I 
had  not  imagined  that  the  peas  were  in  bloom,  and  when  I 
thought  chickens  of  that  year  could  not  be  fit  to  eat.  I  ob 
served  to  him  that  flour  was  selling  at  six  dollars  a  barrel,  and 
bacon  at  eight  cents  a  pound — and  that  the  price  of  a  few 
quarts  of  such  peas  would  purchase  a  cow,  which  could  get  her 
living  in  the  common  while  she  gave  milk  for  his  children.  As 
for  his  part,  he  replied,  that  he  could  not  eat  bacon,  and  did 
not  like  milk,  and  his  children  were  not  used  to  them. 

The  next  class  of  beggars  were  the  officers  and  their  assist 
ants  in  waiting  about  congress  hall.  Those  by  their  civilities, 
their  attentions,  their  gestures  and  their  intimations,  were  con 
stantly  reminding  the  members  of  their  wants  and  wishes. 


508  APPENDIX 

Whenever  I  fell  in  company  with  a  number  of  the  officers 
of  the  army,  I  was  sure  of  being  reminded  of  the  parsimony  of 
congress,  and  of  being  told  how  poorly  they  were  paid. 

The  judges  of  the  District  of  Columbia  (a  District  which 
ought  to  pay  its  own  judges)  were,  one  or  other  of  them,  ever 
complaining  of  the  parsimony  of  congress,  and  begging  for  a 
larger  salary. 

The  most  importunate  beggars  of  all  were  the  higher  officers. 
With  those  I  have  occasionally  dined,  and  where  the  greatest 
profusion  prevailed.  There  might  be  seen  fresh  beef,  pork  and 
butter  from  Maryland,  mutton  from  Pennsylvania,  hams  from 
Burlington,  turkeys  and  chickens  from  Virginia,  pickled  beef 
and  codfish  from  Massachusetts,  potatoes  from  Carolina  and 
from  Maine;  wild  fowl  and  fresh  fish  from  the  Potomac;  sal 
mon  from  Canada;  oysters  from  New  York;  olives  and  spices 
from  both  the  Indies;  raisins  and  figs  from  the  Mediterranean; 
nuts  from  Germany,  Italy  and  the  Mississippi;  brandy  from 
Nantz ;  rum  from  Jamaica ;  gin  from  Holland ;  cheese  from  the 
Netherlands,  from  England  and  from  Connecticut;  wines  from 
Spain,  France,  Germany,  Portugal,  Madeira  and  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope ;  and  porter  from  London. 

While  the  cloth  was  removing  and  the  glasses  replacing, 
some  sycophant,  (perhaps  a  member  of  congress)  was  sure  to 
commence  a  dissertation  on  the  parsimony  of  our  government, 
and  the  inadequate  compensation  given  to  our  officers.  The 
more  'frequently  the  glasses  were  emptied  the  more  attention 
was  paid  to  the  orator,  until  his  doctrine  was  echoed  from  side 
to  side.  Too  often  have  the  guests  carried  the  infatuation  away 
with  them,  and  I  have  had  occasion  to  entreat  them  to  resume 
their  reason  and  their  common  sense — referring  them  to  what 


APPENDIX  509 

their  eyes  had  seen  and  their  lips  had  tasted,  to  convince  them 
that  instead  of  being  parsimonious  the  government  gave  too 
much  to  their  officers,  when  they  enabled  them  to  feed  their 
guests  in  a  style  so  far  above  the  medium  of  good-living.  I 
reminded  them  that  man  was  much  the  creature  of  fashion  and 
imitation,  and  begged  them  to  look  around  and  consider  what 
a  number  there  was  plunging  themselves  into  ruin  and  misery, 
by  their  endeavors  to  furnish  a  table  like  that  we  had  lately 
sat  at,  always  insisting  that  it  was  impolitic,  as  well  as  immoral 
to  appropriate  the  hard  earnings  of  the  people  for  the  encour 
agement  and  support  of  such  voluptuousness. 

I  have  been  led  to  these  recollections  and  reflections  by  the 
perusal  of  the  before  mentioned  extract  from  a  Washington 
City  paper,  which  says,  "  This  place  can  never  be  tedious.  The 
pleasures  of  the  day  are  succeeded  by  the  pleasures  of  the 
night;  for  the  president  and  his  four  secretaries,  by  means  of 
drawing  rooms  and  parties  have  appropriated  the  nights  to 
pleasure  as  well  as  the  day."  One  would  be  led  to  believe 
that  members  of  congress  and  strangers  of  distinction  would 
be  surfeited  by  this  continued  succession  of  delights,  and  "  like 
the  bee,  die  on  the  rose  in  aromatic  pain."  But  no  such  thing 
— their  appetites  are  rather  sharpened  than  blunted  by  per 
petual  indulgence,  and  the  poor  secretaries,  who  are  all  looking 
up  to  the  presidency,  are  obliged  to  feed  and  plaister  them  on 
all  occasions. 

Is  it  for  this  that  the  people  of  the  nation  send  representa 
tives  to  Washington,  and  pay  each  of  them  $56  a  week?  Is 
it  to  spend  their  nights  in  revelry  and  their  days  in  slumber, 
that  they  have  been  sent  there?  Is  it  to  enable  the  higher 
officers  of  government  "  to  feed  and  plaister,"  to  corrupt  and 


510  APPENDIX 

prostitute  their  representatives,  that  they  have  suffered  the  late 
great  increase  of  their  salaries  to  pass  almost  unnoticed?  If 
this  apathy  is  continued,  they  will  only  merit  the  political  deg 
radation  and  perdition  which  infallibly  await  them. 

I  by  no  means  consider  it  amiss  for  the  president  to  invite 
'members  of  congress  and  strangers  of  distinction  to  call  upon 
him  and  dine  with  him,  or  for  a  drawing  room  entertainment, 
once  in  a  while,  to  be  given  at  his  house.  At  those  convivial 
meetings,  the  president  has  an  opportunity  to  become  person 
ally  acquainted  with  his  guests,  and  they  with  him  and  with 
one  another.  Their  sentiments  and  opinions  are  frequently 
interchanged.  This  practice  prevailed  in  the  early  stages  of 
the  government,  and,  for  its  support,  a  superb  mansion,  ready 
furnished,  is  provided,  and  $25,000  salary  for  the  president  is 
appropriated.  But,  at  the  rate  things  seem  to  be  going  on,  the 
poor  secretaries  are  not  to  leave  off  feeding  and  plaistering,  nor 
congress  giving,  until  each  of  them  has  $25,000  a  year  to  sup 
port  the  magnificent  '  succession  of  delights/  those  '  pleasures 
by  day '  and  '  pleasures  by  night,'  so  boastingly  spoken  of  by 
the  Washington  editor — who  tells  us  the  secretaries  are  all 
looking  to  the  presidency ;  and  it  seems  by  the  run  of  the  tale, 
that  one  or  other  of  them  is  expected  to  be  foisted  into  the 
presidential  chair  by  this  banqueting  and  revelry. 

It  has  been  too  much  the  practice  of  the  candidates  for  the 
electorship  to  pledge  themselves  to  vote  for  this  or  that  par 
ticular  candidate.  This  practice,  as  well  as  the  congressional 
caucus,  ought  to  be  discarded,  and  by  the  legislature  of  every 
State  naming  the  persons  they  wish  to  be  the  next  president 
and  vice-president,  that  the  electors  will  be  able  to  select  men 
who  will  give  satisfaction  to  the  nation.  Satisfaction  to  the 


APPENDIX  511 

nation  is  the  main  point — as  the  elements  and  principles  of  our 
government  are  so  plain  and  simple,  that  there  are  more  than 
one  thousand  honest,  well  informed  men  in  the  States  who  are 
as  capable  of  administering  the  government  for  four  or  eight 
years,  as  any  of  the  most  celebrated  candidates  hitherto  spoken 
of,  while  the  number  of  exceptionable  characters,  who  aspire 
to  the  station,  is  comparatively  small. 

Hoping  and  believing  that  the  legislatures  of  the  States  will 
generally  fall  into  the  practice  of  nomination,  I  have  amused 
myself  with  contemplating  the  extended  field  of  choice  which 
will  be  presented  to  the  electors. 

I  hope  the  presidential  chair  will  never  be  filled  by  a  man 
under  sixty  years  of  age,  until  there  shall  be  a  constitutional 
bar  against  electing  the  same  person  oftener  than  once  or 
twice.  A  president  of  the  United  States  possesses  such  vast 
powers  and  prerogatives,  and  such  immense  patronage, — has 
so  many  offices  and  favors  to  bestow,  and  so  much  public 
money  to  disburse,  that  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  oust  one 
who  shall  act  with  a  common  share  of  prudence  and  foresight. 
Had  Gen.  Washington  chosen  to  accept  a  third  election,  al 
though  not  without  objection,  he  would  have  obtained  it  by 
seven  eighths  of  the  electoral  votes.  So  with  Mr.  Jefferson, — 
he  had  early  to  announce  his  solemn  determination  not  to  ac 
cept  a  third  election,  in  order  to  avoid  solicitation, — and  to 
him  we  owe  the  rule  which  forbids  any  person  to  look  for  a 
third  election  to  the  presidency.  It  is  but  a  rule  however.  I 
have  never  been  better  pleased  with  the  political  course  of  a 
president  than  that  of  Mr.  Monroe, — yet  I  have  trembled  for 
fear  that  he  would  be  induced,  by  the  sycophancy  which  sur 
rounds  him,  to  agree  to  accept  a  third  election." 


512  APPENDIX 

Mr.  Niles  abruptly  cuts  off  Colonel  Lyon  here,  with  this 
editorial  remark: 

"  The  writer  then  proceeds  to  mention  several  persons  who, 
he  supposed,  might  be  nominated  by  the  several  States,  and 
gives  his  remarks  freely  on  their  claims  and  competency,  &c., 
all  of  which  we  think  it  better  to  omit.  He  concludes  with 
these  words :  '  Such  are  the  opinions  of  a  man  of  old  times, 
written  on  the  Mississippi,  in  April,  1822.' " 


•FINIS. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


Adams,  John,  Introduction,  82. 
127,  128,  169,  195,  202,  208,  209, 
210,  219,  220,  306,  307,  308,  309, 
310,  311,  312,  314,  317,  323,  324, 
339,  34i,  357,  375,  380,  396,  397- 

Adams,  Abigail,  210,  390. 

Adams,  Samuel,  54,  128,  132,  135, 
169. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  302,  419. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  220. 

Adams,  Henry,  210,  230,  453. 

Adams,  C.  N.,  202. 

Addison,  Vermont,  84. 

Addresses  to  President,  309,  310. 

Aeneas,  Pious,  410. 

Age  of  Homespun,  75,  193. 

Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  Intro 
duction,  i,  208,  307,  3120,  322. 

Aliens,  308. 

Albany,  New  York,  84,  112,  130. 
Convention,  52.  Officials,  in, 
113,  117. 

Algonquin  Indians,  52,  83. 

Allen,  Ethan,  Introduction,  66, 
69,  71,  80,  81,  82,  oo,  91,  92,  93, 
94,  95,  98,  ioo,  102,  103,  104, 
106,  112,  113,  114,  115,  116,  117, 
118,  131,  156,  157,  162,  163,  165, 
I7i,  175,  176,  191,  407. 

Allen,  Ira,  79,  80,  81,  82,  103,  129, 
142,  143,  144,  145,  148,  151,  152, 
156,  157,  163,  170,  171,  175,  176, 
177. 

Allen,   Zimri,  81. 

Allen,  Heman,  81. 


Allen,  Fanny,  192. 

Allen,  Loraine,  191,  192. 

Allen,  John,  221,  223. 

Alliance  between  France  and 
United  States,  155. 

Alphonso  and  Daltnda,  206. 

American  captain  with  whom 
Matthew  Lyon  sailed,  34,  38. 

America,  96,   168. 

American  Livy,  131;  forces,  132, 
133;  generals,  134;  independ 
ence,  144;  colonies,  169;  revolu 
tion,  169. 

Ancient  Woodbury,  History  of, 
by  Wm.  Cothren,  30,  44,  45,  47, 
48,  59,  63,  64,  66,  90,  196. 

Annals  of  Fifth  Congress,  248  to 
300,  320. 

Anti-Gallicans,  312. 

Appleton's  Cyclopedia,  art  Mat 
thew  Lyon,  29. 

Apprentice  system,  prices  under, 
68. 

Arkansas  Territory,  165,  472,  473, 

474- 

Army,  Provisional,  314, 
Arlington,  Vermont,  59,  60,   156, 

157,  159,  166,  167,  175,  192,  193, 

194,  195. 

Arnold,  Benedict,  67,  131,  132. 
Aspect  of  iniquity,  173. 
Assumption   of  debts   of   States, 

219. 

Aston,  Sir  Richard,  14. 
Astrological  badinage,  439. 


5*3 


514 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


Aurora,  The,  229,  235,  236,  237. 
Austin,  Apollos,  376. 
Autobiography       of        Matthew 
Lyon,  27,  415. 

Bacon,  Jabez,  41,  44,  45,  63,  64, 

65,  66,  67,  68,  72,  196- 
Back  door  of  Cabinet,  Hamilton 

at,  220,  312. 

Bailey,  General,  of  Newbury,  149. 
Baker,  Remember,  48,  66,  80,  81, 

156. 

Baker,  Joel  C,  09,  164. 
Balance  of  power,  101. 
Ballad,  Democratic,  227. 
Baldwin  and  Gunn  difficulty,  302. 
Bancroft,    George,    55,    103,    127, 

131,  168. 
Barkesdale,  Gen.  Wm.  and  John 

Covode,    fight    in    the    House, 

304- 

Barlow,  Joel,  315. 
Barre,  Colonel,  59. 
Barrett,  Justice,  190. 
Barrington,  Sir  Jonah,  I,  212. 
Basswood  paper,  199. 
Battle    of    Bennington,    155,    157, 

161,  174. 

Batten-Kill,  137. 
Bayard,  James  A.,  318,  319,  380, 

383,  384,  38&  388,  389,  390,  391. 

His    reconciliation    with    Col 
onel  Lyon,  446. 
Bayley,  Jacob,  142. 
Beaman,  Rev.  N.  S.  S.,  180,  407, 

408,  409- 

Beauregard,  General,  314. 
Bcecher,    Rev.    Lyman,   77. 
Beecher,  Rev.  Henry  Ward,  201. 
Bell-Turney    fight    in    Congress, 

302. 
Benedict,  Abel,   157. 


Benjamin,  Sally,  To6. 

Bennington  Mob,  106,  113. 

Bennington,  85,  91,  136,  137,  143. 

Bennington   Gazette,   206. 

Benton- Jackson  fight,  302.  Ben- 
ton  kills  Lucas,  302. 

Berkeley,  Bishop   George,  6,  38. 

Births  and  birthdays,  32,  310. 

Black  Cockades,  337. 

Blackwood's  Magazine,  55. 

Bladensburg,  Mason-McCarty 
duel  at,  301. 

Blessington,  Lady,  Introduction. 

Bludgeon,  Griswold  attacks 
Lyon  with  a,  228. 

Blue  Laws,  76,  88. 

Blue  Lights,  389. 

Board  of  Trade,  English,  52,  103, 
106. 

Boxing  school,  Congress  a,  235. 

Bold  Sweeper,  Matthew  Lyon 
called,  204. 

Blount,  Charles,  91. 

Boone,  Daniel,  82,  136. 

Boston  Repertory,  445. 

Boundary  lines,  104,  107,  III. 

Bookbinder,  Lyon  a,  15. 

Boyish  piece   of  business,  222. 

Bradley,  Benjamin,  98. 

Bradley,  Daniel,  98. 

Bradley,  Stephen  R.,  170,  180. 

Breda,  Treaty  of,  no. 

Brinley  Library,  Sale  of,  208. 

Brown,  John,   of  Rhode   Island, 

393- 

Brown,  Major,  116,  117. 
Brownson,  Timothy,  176. 
Brooks,      Preston      S.,     assaults 

Charles  Sumner,  304. 
Brooks,  Congressman,  231. 
Brook,  The  Roaring,  99. 
British  America,  101,  161,  163. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


515 


Brycc4  JaTncs,  310, 

Burke,  Edmund,  6,  16,  37,  56. 

Bushnell,  Rev.  Horace,  75. 

Buncomb,  American,  not  Eng 
lish  in  order,  202. 

Burgoyne,  General,  114,  126,  130, 
132,  133,  135,  137,  140,  141,  IS5, 
156,  164,  175. 

Butler,  Prof.  James  Davie,  83, 
169,  178. 

Burr's  conspiracy  and  intrigues, 
228,  318,  385,  3&5,  387,  391,  392, 
393,  411,  432,  450,  463,  464. 

Bynam  and  Garland  fight  in  Con 
gress,  302.  Bynam  and  Jenifer 
duel,  302. 

Byron,  Lord,  233. 

By  the  bulls  that  redeemed  me, 
Matthew  Lyon,  35. 

By  the  bull  that  bought  me, 
Rudyard  Kipling,  218. 

Cadwell,     Dr.     George,    marries 

Colonel   Lyon's    daughter,    80. 

His  anti-slavery  vote,  412,  413, 

415. 

Calhoun,  John  C,  9,  74,  86,  442. 
Camden,  Battle  of,  128,  129. 
Canada,    118,    119,    130,    1331,    134, 

168,  174. 

Canaan,  Connecticut,  70,  8Lj. 
Canning,    The    Mephistophelean, 

459- 

Carey,  Matthew,  461. 
Carey,  Henry  C.,  461. 
Carpenter,  Benjamin,  142,  148, 

150,    151- 
Carpenter's  vile  Life  of  Jefferson, 

169. 

Carroll,  Bishop  John,  226 
Carleton,  General,  117,  n8L 


Catholics  and  Protestants,  13. 

Cavaliers,  The,  50. 

Ceremonies  under  Adams,  436, 
437- 

Champlain,  Samuel,  Father  of 
New  France,  82,  95. 

Champlain,  Lake,  81,  82,  85,  95. 

Charles  the  First,  50. 

Charles  the  Second,  no. 

Charlotte,  General  Gates  escapes 
to,  128. 

Chestnut  horse,  The,  of  William 
of  Orange,  6. 

Chesterfield,  Lord,  226. 

Chatham,  Lord,  52,  57,  73. 

Chipman,  Nathaniel,  99,  170,  176, 
177,  180,  181,  182,  183,  215,  216, 
217,  218,  224,  225. 

Chipmans,  The,  80. 

Chipman,  Samuel,  99,  102. 

Chipman,  Daniel,  145.  His  Life 
of  Seth  Warner,  116. 

Chittenden,  Thomas,  Introduc 
tion,  60,  69,  72,  80,  82,  84,  85, 
87,  89,  127,  129,  136,  142,  144, 
147,  149,  156,  157,  162,  163,  164, 
165,  166,  167,  169,  170,  171,  173, 
174,  175,  176,  177,  181,  182,  193, 
407. 

Chittenden,  Bethuel,  72,  98. 

Chittenden,  Martin,  89. 

Chittenden,  L.  E.,  229,  411. 

Chittenden,  Hannah,  193,  194. 

Christmas  at  Litchfield,  77. 

Church,  Judge  Samuel,  69,  74,  77, 

79,  9i. 
Cilley,  Jonathan,  killed  in  a  duel 

by  Wm.  J.  Graves,  303. 
Clinton,    Gov.   George,    115,    169. 

170. 
Clarendon,  Vermont,  97. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


Clarendon,  Lord,  324. 
Clingman,    T.    L.,    and    W.    L. 

Yancey  fight  a  duel,  303. 
Clark,  Henry,  216. 
Clark,  Elisha,  99. 
Clark,  Nathan,  142,  143,  148,  150, 

152. 

Clay,  Henry,  301,  460.     His  hos 
tility  to  Jefferson,  462,  463. 
Cobbett,    William,    35,    212,    213, 

214,  215,  224,  235,  240,  241,  242, 

243,  244,  245,  246,  247. 
Cochran,  Colonel,  156,  227. 
Colden,  Governor,  46,  100,  106. 
Colonial  Assemblies,  52,  58. 
Collins,  Richard,  7,  28,  195,  383. 
Collections  of  Chicago  Historical 

Society,  429,  43O,  43 1. 
Commissioners  of  Sequestration, 

143,  178,  179- 
Commission  for  investigation  of 

defective  titles,  19. 
Compromise  at  last,  103. 
Congregationalists,   77. 
Connecticut,   170. 
Connecticut    local    histories,    29, 

31,  61,  81,  82,  84,  88,  108,  131, 

139- 
Connaught,  Second  exodus  from, 

12. 

Convention,     The    word,     gives 

them  the  horrors,  391. 
Conway  Cabal,  128. 
Confiscation,  First  act  of,  153. 
Confederacy  of  the  Five  Nations, 

83- 
Confederation,  Vermont  seeks  to 

enter  the,  101,  176. 
Congress,    Introduction,    82,    84, 

115,  120,  127,  128,  132,  139,  155, 

158,  165,  170,  171,  174,  232,  234, 

300,  301,  310. 


Cottiers,  The,  37. 

Continental    Congress,    115,    117, 

131. 
Cothren,  Wm.,  30,  44,  61,  62,  64, 

65,  67.  68,  70. 
Continental     Establishment,     94, 

138,  156,  163. 
Council  of  Censors,  179. 
Coxe,  Tench,  214. 
Crawford,     Wm.     H.,     kills     his 

man     in     one,     and     later     is 

wounded  in  another  duel,  302. 
Cornwall,  Connecticut,  70,  84. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  20,  50,  51. 
Crown,    The,    52,     Lawyers,    57, 

58- 

Crown  Point,  114,  123,  134. 
Crucial  question,  104. 
Curran,  Sarah,  2. 
Catlett,  Dr.,  430,  431. 

Dana,  H.  S.,  158,  159,  160,  161, 
162. 

Dana,  Congressman,  224,  446. 

Darby  Narrows,  65. 

Dartmouth,  Lord,  97,  106. 

Davenport,  John,  76. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  in  a  chance 
medley,  302. 

Dawson,  Henry  B.,  103,  197,  IQ& 

Dayton,  Jonathan,  228,  232,  319. 

Debates  in  Congress,  meagre  re 
ports  of,  320. 

Delaplace,  Commandant  of  Ti- 
conderoga,  131. 

Dent,  Congressman,  227. 

De  Puy's,  H.  W.,  Ethan  Allen 
and  Green  Mountain  Heroes, 
117. 

Desmond,  Earl  of,  22. 

De  Vergennes,  Count,  92. 

Devon  Charter,  etc.,  104,  107. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


517 


Dexter,  Samuel,  489. 

Dexter,  Mr.,  Assistant  Librarian 

of  Yale  College,  327. 
Dorset  Convention,  129,  159,  160, 

166. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  98. 
Drake,  F.  S.,  28. 
Duane,  James,  103. 
Dublin,  2,  15,  16,  23. 
Dulany,  Daniel,  the  elder,  40,  72. 
Dulany,     Daniel,     the     younger, 

oracle  of  the  law,  55,  57,  73. 
Dutch,   The,   of   New   York,   95, 

96.    West  India  Company,  no. 
Dwight,  Timothy,  77,  85,  86,  87, 

89,  oo,  91,  92,  93,  94,  95,  96,  196, 

197. 

Early  Scenes  in  Kentucky  by 
Mrs.  E.  A.  Roe,  99. 

Eastern  troops,  132. 

East  and  West  Unions,  171. 

Eaton,  Theophilus,  76. 

Eddyville  Colony,  Introduction, 
412. 

Ejectment  suits  at  Albany,  112. 

Ellsworth,  Oliver,  318. 

Emigrant  train  of  Colonel  Lyon, 
412. 

Embargo,  The,  114. 

Emmet,  Robert,  2. 

Emmons,  Benjamin,  159. 

England,  51,  52,  83,  96,  101,  156. 

English,  The,  134,  168,  177. 

English  Board  of  Trade,  103. 

English  colonization  in  America, 
50.  Liberty,  57. 

English  language,  2.  Irish  Par 
liament,  20. 

English  newspapers  on  Alien  and 
Sedition  laws,  308. 

Enos,  General,  176. 


Envoys  to  France,  311. 
Europe,  100. 

European  Settlements  in  Amer 
ica,  by  Edmund  Burke,  37. 

Fair  Haven.  Introduction,  80, 
87,  88,  161.  Gazette,  206. 

Famine  in  Ireland,  n. 

Farmers'  Library,  206. 

Fassett,  Captain,  130,  157.  John, 
176. 

Fay,  Joseph,  130,  142. 

Fearon's    Sketches    of    America, 

43- 

Federalist  rhymers,  35.  Party, 
165.  Killed  by  John  Adams, 
209. 

Federal  doggerel  and  Democratic 
ballad,  227.  Newspapers  on 
Lyon-Griswold  fracas,  238,  239. 

Federal  city  ridiculed  by  French 
lady,  389,  and  by  Wolcott, 
Moore,  Morris  and  Mrs. 
Adams,  390. 

Federal  Constitution,  102,  103. 

Fermoy,  General,  132. 

Ferrisburg,  81. 

Fessenden's  verses,  35.  He  calls 
Lyon  the  Dagon  of  Democ 
racy,  36. 

Final  war  and  slaughter,  101. 

Findlay  cited  by  Jefferson  re 
specting  Harper,  209. 

Fitch,  the  brutal  marshal,  338. 
Villany  of  exposed,  381. 

Foote,  Rev.  Dr.,  73. 

Foote,  Senator  H.  S.,  draws  pis 
tol  on  Colonel  Benton,  knocks 
down  John  C.  Fremont,  and 
has  a  breakfast  table  fight  with 
Jefferson  Davis,  302. 

Fort  Edward,  137,  140. 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


Fort  or  Mount  Defiance,  130. 

Fountain  sources  of  State  sover 
eignty,  58. 

France,  51,  83,  96.  Alliance  with 
United  States,  155,  167. 

Francis,  Colonel,  killed,  134, 
135- 

Frankfort,  Kentucky,  113,  156. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  24.  His  ac 
count  of  Irish  Parliament,  25, 
26.  Employs  James  Lyon,  80, 
95.  His  life  by  Matthew  Lyon, 
206. 

Frazer,  Colonel,  134. 

Freemen  of  the  Provinces,  57. 

French,  The,  95.  Old  French 
war,  loo. 

Gage,  General,  106. 

Galusha,  Mrs.  Beulah,  second 
wife  of  Colonel  Lyon,  Intro 
duction,  62.  The  Galushas,  80, 
166. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  210.  Lam 
pooned  by  Porcupine,  214. 
Extracts  from  his  letters,  229, 
230,  231,  319,  376,  389.  Re 
markable  letter,  394,  432.  Let 
ter  to  Colonel  Lyon,  491,  492, 
493- 

Gaston,  William,  321. 

Gates,  Horatio,  119,  120,  121,  122, 

127.  Breaks  with  Washington, 

128,  129,  130,  131,  132,  136,  138, 
139,   160,  163,  177,  180. 

Georges,  The  three  first,  120. 
George,  Lake,  84,  95- 
George  the  Second,  107. 
George  the  Third,  155. 
Georgia  students,  78. 


Gerry,  Elbridge,  311,  312. 

Gibbon  on  Roman  Empire,  209. 

Gilbert's,      Miss,      Fair      Haven 
Reminiscences,  67,  196. 

Golden,  The,  Belt  of  Ireland,  i. 

Gordon,  William,  English  histor 
ian,  132,  136. 

Goshen,  84. 

Gould,  James,  74,  77. 

Gouverneur,  Mrs.  S.  L.,  Jr.,  60, 
493- 

Governor  and  Council,  157. 

Governor,  Provincial,  58. 

Graham's,  Dr.  John  A.,  account 
of  Colonel  Lyon,  197. 

Granger,  Gideon,  446. 

Grants  of  money,  58. 

Grattan,  Henry,  2,  16,  22. 

Great  Jehovah,  The,  and  Con 
tinental  Congress,  113. 

Great  Britain,  172. 

Green  Mountains,  82,  84,  85,  95, 
98,  100. 

Green  Mountain  Boys,  71,  78,  91, 
96,  101,  113,  116,  119,  129,  135, 
151,  170,  171,  172,  173,  338. 

Green,  Rev.  Ashbel,  on  Lyon, 
226,  227,  229,  306. 

Grenville  carries  through  the 
Stamp  Act,  53. 

Griswold,  Roger,  71,  158,  218, 
225,  226.  The  fight  with  Lyon, 
228,  233,  247  to  300. 

Gross  fabrications,  180. 

Grow,  G.  A.,  and  L.  M.  Keitt, 
fight  in  Congress;  others  en 
gaged,  304. 

Gunn-Baldwin  Quarrel  in  Con 
gress,  301. 

Gurney,  Fort,  84. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


519 


Haldimand  intrigue.  Origin  of 
at  Governor  Wolcott's  house 
in  Litchfield,  78,  101,  106,  162, 
163,  169,  171,  172,  174,  176,  177, 
178,  181,  217. 

Hall's,  Hiland,  History  of  Ver 
mont,  97,  103. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  101,  169, 
195.  Apostle  of  Centralization, 
219,  220,  310,  311,  312.  In  the 
ascendant,  313,  314,  315-  Down 
and  out,  his  character,  318, 
319,  386. 

Hampshire  Grants,  89,  93,  98. 
Origin  of  controversy,  100.  No 
historian  of  it,  102,  120,  141, 
159,  1 60,  1 66. 

Hancock,  John,  169. 

Hannah,  Hugh,  62,  63,  67,  68,  72. 

Harper,  Robert  Goodloe,  209, 
227,  232,  319.  His  tell-tale  let 
ter  to  Burr,  385,  386,  387,  388. 

Harper's  Ferry  Armory,  69. 

Hartford,  64. 

Harvey,  Peter,  on  Webster  and 
Jefferson,  201. 

Haswell,  Anthony,  376. 

Hawley,  Jehiel,  156. 

Hazleton,  John,  69. 

Hearts  of  Steel  Boys,  13. 

Heights  of  Abraham,  83. 

Henry,  Patrick,  58,  59,  141,  318. 

Hepburn,  William  P.,  427. 

Herrick,  Colonel,  144,  155. 

Hessians,  The,  134. 

Hibernia  Dominicana,  3. 

Hildreth's  History,  437. 

Hillsborough,  Gates  escapes  to, 
128. 

Hinman's  Historical  Collections, 
44,  67,  131,  210. 

Historic  drama,  207. 


Hitchcock,  Samuel,  Ira  Allen  to, 

177- 

Holstein  and  Holland,  n. 
Hopkins,  John,  of  Salem,  98. 
Hosford,    Miss,    niece    of    Ethan 

Allen;   Introduction,   62.      Her 

marriage  to  Colonel  Lyon,  70, 

72. 

House  of  Representatives,  82. 
Howe,  General,  130,  132. 
Hubbardton,    133,    134,    135,    142, 

174- 

Hudson,  Hendrick,  sells  his  prov 
ince  to  Dutch,  no. 

Hudson  river,  84,  136,  137. 

Hunter,  R.  M.  T.,  87. 

Humorous  view  of  Spitting  Matt 
and  Roger  Knight  of  Rheum- 
ful  Countenance,  227. 


Independence,  American,  144. 
Inhabitants    of   the    Grants    flee, 

175- 
Insurrections    in    the    North    of 

Ireland,  8. 
Intrigue  of  British  and  Vermont- 

ers,  170. 

Irish- American  Hampden,  i. 
Irish    fairs,    i.     State   Trials,   44. 

Race,  18. 
Irish    and    English    Parliaments, 

20. 

Iroquois  Indians,  83,  100. 
Irving,  Washington,  93,  94,   127, 

131,  168. 

Ives,  Abraham,  98. 
Ives,  Lent,  98.  , 

Ives,  Nathaniel,  98. 

Jackson,  Abraham,  98,  160. 
Jackson,  Joseph,  98. 


520 


GENERAL  INDEX, 


Jackson,  Andrew,  9,  213,  214,  226, 

303,  465- 

Jackson,  Stonewall,  9,  73. 

James  the  First,  19,  50. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  54,  80,  82,  195, 
210,  214,  219.  Apostle  of  De 
mocracy,  219,  227,  231,  232,  233, 
307,  322,  376,  39i,  392,  416,  417, 
433,  437,  441,  447,  448,  462,  463, 
467. 

Jericho,  122,  125,  129,  130,  159, 
163,  176. 

Johnson,  One,  of  Gnibb  street, 
214. 

Junius,  54- 

Kent,  Chancellor,  55,  86. 
Kentucky,  62,  82,  101,  136,  407  to 

431,  437,  438,  471,  473,  474- 
Key,  Philip  Barton,  55. 
Keys  of  Champlain,  115. 
Kilbourne's,     P.     K.,     Litchfield 

Biographical  History,  30,  61. 
King,  The,  106,  112. 
King's  Mountain,  Battle  of,  155. 
Kittera,  Congressman,  227. 
Kipling,     Rudyard,     paraphrases 

Lyon's  oath,  218. 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  64. 

Land  of  Steady  Habits,  88. 

Lake  Champlain,  82,  84,  100,  130, 
132. 

Lanman,  Charles,  28. 

Laurens,  Colonel,  Envoy  to 
France,  95. 

Laud,  Archbishop,  called  by 
Puritans  Short  Horns  of  Anti- 
Christ,  77. 

Lee,  General  Charles,  128. 

Lecky's  Leaders  of  Irish  Opin 
ion,  8,  22. 


Legislature  Of  Vermont  on 
Wheels,  92. 

Leigh,  Benjamin  Watkins,  384. 

Leavenworth,  Jesse,  60. 

Leinster,  second  exodus  from, 
12.  Three  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  thousand  acres  "dis 
covered"  in,  19. 

Lexington,  Battle  of,  113,  114. 

Linn,  Dr.,  of  New  Jersey,  318. 

Lingard  the  historian,  384. 

Litchfield  County  Convention, 
66,  69,  73.  Its  famous  Law 
School  and  social  life,  75,  76. 
Its  Pioneers,  78,  80,  84,  09,  166. 
Nursing  Mother  of  Vermont, 
169. 

Lodge,  H.  C,  316. 

Lossing,  Benson  J.,  the  historian, 
28. 

Lucas,  Charles,  the  Irish  leader, 
18,  22,  23,  25. 

Lucas,  William,  on  John  Ran 
dolph's  eloquence,  435. 

Lyon,  Chittenden,  62.  His  boy 
ish  fists  resent  Wooden  Sword, 
179.  Described  by  Dr.  Bea- 
man,  180,  417,  421. 

Lyon,  James,  24,  206,  415. 

Lyon,  Loraine,  daughter  of  Mat 
thew,  her  death,  81,  408,  412, 
414. 

Lyon,  Beulah,  second  wife  of 
Matthew,  date  of  her  birth,  32. 
Her  noble  character,  341. 

Lyon,  Matthew  S.,  27,  416. 

Lyon,  Thompson  A.,  163,  425, 
426. 

Lyon,  Ann,  Pamelia  and  Lor 
aine,  daughters  of  Matthew,  80. 

Lyon,  Margaret  A.,  marries 
Senator  W.  B.  Machen,  422. 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


52* 


Lyon,  General  Hylon  B.,  426. 

Lyon,  Lieutenant  Frank,  in  sea 
fight  off  Santiago,  427. 

Lyon,  Matthew.  His  parents,  6. 
His  father  said  to  have  been 
executed,  7.  Set  out  for  Amer 
ica  in  1765  during  second 

,  Irish  exodus,  12.  His  mother, 
14.  He  adopts  five  youngest 
children  of  Mrs.  Edwards,  his 
sister,  15.  His  school  days,  15. 
His  democratic  spirit,  17.  Op 
poses  parades  of  Congressmen 
through  streets,  24.  Publishes 
a  Life  of  Franklin,  26.  Models 
himself  on  Dr.  Lucas,  26. 
Lyon's  autobiography  lost,  27. 
Errors  as  to  his  age,  28.  His 
true  age,  29.  Career  in  Con 
necticut,  31.  Family  record, 
31.  Children  of  his  second 
marriage,  32.  Births  and 
deaths,  32.  Dates  of  his  own 
birth  and  death,  32.  Sources 
of  this  biography,  33.  Why  he 
left  Ireland,  35.  Does  not  an 
swer  his  traducers,  36.  Fare 
well  to  his  mother;  sails  as 
cabin  boy,  38.  His  indentures 
to  Jabez  Bacon,  41.  His  sick 
ness  at  sea,  42.  Arrives  in  year 
of  Stamp  Act,  44.  Reaches 
Ancient  Woodbury;  Bacon's 
example,  45.  Same  scenes  in 
Wicklow  and  New  York,  with 
a  difference,  47.  Lyon  in  Con 
necticut,  59,  60.  His  descend 
ants,  60.  Further  accounts  of 
Lyon  and  his  marriage  in  Con 
necticut,  61,  62.  Bought  for  a 
pair  of  stags,  68.  His  stand 


ing;  becomes  a  Connecticut 
freeman,  71,  80.  His  children; 
closing  days  in  land  of  Steady 
Habits;  departure  for  Hamp 
shire  Grants,  80  to  113.  War; 
made  Adjutant  in  the  army,  116. 
Second  lieutenant;  military  af 
fairs,  119  to  121.  Stroke  of 
misfortune;  tried  by  court 
martial  and  dismissed  by  Gen 
eral  Gates  from  army;  his  Con 
gressional  narrative  of  the  af 
fair  and  of  Gates's  injustice; 
British  irruption  into  Vermont; 
his  wife  and  children  take 
refuge  in  Connecticut;  Lyon's 
military  exploits,  121  to  175. 
He  moves  to  Arlington,  175  to 
178.  Impeached  but  proves 
his  innocence  and  defeats  his 
enemies;  chastises  Nathaniel 
Chipman;  record  of  his  im 
peachment  and  triumphant  vin 
dication  here  for  first  time  col 
lated  and  brought  to  light  in 
authentic  shape,  179  to  190. 
Ethan  Allen  uncle  of  Lyon's 
wife;  his  intimacy  with  Lyon; 
anecdote  of  his  daughter  Lor- 
aine  Allen  and  Matthew  Lyon; 
her  friendship  for  him;  his  mar 
ried  life;  has  four  children; 
death  of  his  wife;  becomes 
wealthy;  Governor  Chittenden 
and  Colonel  Lyon  crush  out 
Toryism  at  Arlington;  they  be 
come  warm  friends;  Lyon's 
marriage  to  the  Governor's 
daughter,  the  widow  Beulah 
Galusha;  his  great  business 
qualities;  Deputy  Secretary  of 


522 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


the  Council;  Secretary  of 
Board  of  War;  Lyon's  Works; 
founder  of  Fair  Haven  in  1783; 
high  tributes  to  him  by  Dr. 
Graham,  E.  P.  Walton,  H.  B. 
Dawson  and  Dr.  Dwight,  191 
to  197.  Lyon's  character; 
pioneer  Democrat  of  New  Eng 
land;  doctrinaire  and  thunder 
bolt;  candidate  for  United 
States  Senate  in  1791;  his  in 
flexible  perseverance  described 
by  Pliny  H.  White;  elected  to 
Congress;  his  busy  schemes 
and  works  at  Fair  Haven;  ex 
tract  from  his  letter  to  Presi 
dent  Monroe;  a  ship  builder; 
he  fosters  literature;  Dr.  Will 
iams  refuses  to  insert  his  letter 
in  Rutland  Herald;  Lyon  starts 
the  Scourge  of  Aristocracy; 
indicted,  convicted,  fined  and 
imprisoned;  109  to  208.  Perse 
cution  of  Lyon  kills  Alien  and 
Sedition  laws;  he  reinforces 
Albert  Gallatin  in  Congress; 
his  trenchant  speech  on  high 
blood  and  royal  ceremonies  in 
the  House;  Federalists  raise 
hue  and  cry  against  him;  Gris- 
wold  insults  him;  Lyon  spits 
in  his  face;  subject  referred  to 
a  committee;  detailed  narrative 
of  the  affair,  and  of  the  fierce 
and  combined  attack  on  Lyon 
of  the  Federalists  who  tried  to 
expel  him;  letters  of  public 
men  on  the  scenes  in  the 
House,  humorous  side  of  the 
fracas;  newspaper  accounts; 
the  testimony  before  Congress; 


the  arguments  and  final  failure 
to  expel  him,  209  to  305.  The 
Lyon-Griswold  fight  rouses 
the  bull  dog  in  John  Adams, 
306.  Alien  and  Sedition  laws 
passed  to  crush  Lyon,  307. 
Striking  similarity  between  the 
case  of  John  Hampden  and 
that  of  Matthew  Lyon;  in  Ver- 
gennes  jail;  his  letter  to  Gen 
eral  Mason;  speech  from  his 
cell  window;  the  long  lost 
official  report  of  his  trial;  great 
multitude  present  at  his  re 
lease;  a  welcome  like  that  to 
Admiral  Dewey;  Lyon  de 
scribes  his  imprisonment  in  a 
speech  in  Congress,  324  to  381. 
Lyon's  vote  elects  Jefferson 
President;  Bayard,  Harper, 
Hildreth  and  Lodge  answered, 
and  their  claims  refuted  by  his 
torical  facts;  Lyon's  pungent 
letter  to  ex-President  Adams; 
he  removes  to  Kentucky; 
founds  Eddyville;  elected  to 
the  State  Legislature  and  again 
to  Congress;  his  commanding 
station  on  the  majority  side  of 
the  House;  placates  Gallatin's 
angry  feelings  towards  Gov 
ernor  Claiborne;  savage  debate 
between  John  Randolph  and 
Matthew  Lyon,  395  to  455- 
Lyon  opposes  war  of  1812,  at 
tacks  Madison  and  loses  his 
seat  in  the  House,  456  to  470. 
President  Monroe  appoints 
Colonel  Lyon  Factor  to  the 
Cherokee  Nation;  he  is  elected 
to  Congress  once  more  from 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


523 


Territory  o*  Arkansas;  the  old 
pioneer's  last  famous  journey; 
his  illness  and  death;  his  re 
ligious  faith;  his  letter  against 
disunion  to  Josiah  Quincy;  his 
letter  to  Senator  A.  C.  Mason; 
his  deposition  on  Wilkinson 
and  Burr;  his  farewell  letter  in 
Niles's  Register  a  political  cu 
riosity,  472  to  502. 

Machen,  Willis  B.,  422  to  425. 

Machen,  Edward  C.,  Introduc 
tion,  426. 

Macon,  Nathaniel,  319,  470,  490- 

Madison,  James,  232  to  235.  His 
letter  on  John  Adams,  309,  376, 
432. 

Maine,  two  ships  from,  65. 

Manchester,  85,  135,  137,  140,  142, 
143,  145,  159,  160. 

Mansfield,  Lord,  53,  54. 

Marshall,  Chief  Justice,  S3  to  57, 
311,  312.  Opposes  Jefferson, 
432,  434,  435. 

Maryland  deserts  Burr  to  save 
Federal  capital,  387,  390. 

Mason,  Stevens  Thompson,  135, 
138,  156,  161.  His  ride  to  Ver- 
gennes  jail,  376,  377,  49*  • 

Mason,  Armisted  C.,  61.  Slain 
in  a  duel,  113,  301.  Lyon's  let 
ter  to,  494  to  502. 

Massachusetts,  82,  84,  85,  101,  105, 
106.  Boundary  line  of,  107, 
131,  135,  170. 

Mattocks,  Samuel,  99. 

Mazzei  letter  a  forgery,  433,  434. 

Me  Gee,  Thomas  D'Arcy,  10,  40. 

McMahon,  John  V.  L.,  59. 

Messenger,  John,  80,  412. 

Middlebury,  123. 


Middle  States,  131. 

Mifflin,  General,  128. 

Military  Grants,  100. 

Miller,  Warner,  199. 

Ministry,  The,  106. 

Minute    Men    of    Vermont,    114, 

115- 

Mississippi  river  captains,  410. 

Molyneux  the  friend  of  Lockev 
17.  His  Case  of  Ireland,  21. 

Monarchic  Masque,  210. 

Monarchy  threatened,  212. 

Monarchy-breeding  birthdays, 
310. 

Monroe,  James,  60,  214,  311,  376, 
468,  469,  472. 

Montcalm,  83,  118. 

Montgomery,  General,  117.  Or 
derly  book  of,  118.  His  death 
at  Quebec,  118,  131. 

Montpelier,  144. 

Montreal,  117. 

Mount  Independence,  132.  De 
fiance  or  Sugar  Hill,  133. 

Moore,  Tom,  5,  474. 

Morris,  Lewis  R.,  319,  39L  393- 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  391. 

Morris's  Litchfield,  62. 

Mowgli's  Oath,  adapted  by  Rud- 
yard  Kipling  from  Colonel 
Lyon,  218. 

Munster,  second  exodus  from, 
12. 

Murray,  William  Vans,  appointed 
Minister  to  France,  317. 

Myrmidon,  A,  seizes  a  Green 
Mountain  Boy,  102. 

Navigation  Act,  56. 
Newbury,  149. 

New  England,  83,  86,  87,  131,  141, 
169. 


524 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


New  France,  52,  83. 

New  Hampshire,  82,  97,  101,  105. 
Boundaries  of  defined,  107,  115, 
170. 

New  Hampshire  Grants,  61,  78, 
81,  121. 

New  Haven,  64. 

New  Netherlands,  104,  1 10.  Cap 
tured  in  1660  by  English,  no. 
Recaptured  in  1673  by  Dutch, 
no.  Surrendered  by  Treaty  of 
Breda  to  English  the  next  year, 
no. 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  26. 

New  world,  169. 

New  York  Historical  Magazine 
on  Matthew  Lyon,  198. 

New  York,  65.  Market,  65,  78, 
86.  Documentary  History  of, 
97.  Officials,  loo,  101,  105,  106. 
Land  jobbers  in,  in.  Sheriffs 
of,  in  collision  with  Vermont- 
ers,  112,  131,  132,  141,  169,  170. 

Niles's  Register,  Matthew  Lyon's 
letter  in,  502  to  510. 

Non-Importation  Act  of  1699,  13, 

North,  Lord,  113. 

Northern  Department,  131,  148. 

North  and  South,  balance  of 
power  between,  101. 

North  Wallingford,  160. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  459. 

Oak  Boys,  13. 

O' Byrnes,  The  Clan  of  the,  3. 

O'Callaghan,  Dr.  E.  B.,  on  New 
York  boundaries,  109.  His 
Documentary  History  of  New 
York,  117. 


O'Connor,    Matthew,    Irish    his 
torian,  7,  12. 
O'Connell,  Daniel,  22. 
O'Kavanaghs,  The  Clan  of  the, 

3- 

Old  Council  of  Safety  in  Ver 
mont,  130,  142  to  146,  151  to 
153,  157  to  163.  166,  172.  Its 
secrets  buried,  178. 

Old  Guard,  or  Democratic  Re 
publican  party  founded  by 
Governor  Chittenden  and  Mat 
thew  Lyon,  176,  182. 

Old  Noll  in  Ireland,  4. 

O'Leary,  Father,  6,  17. 

Old  World,  169. 

Olin,  Gideon,  142,  148. 

O'Neil,  The,  22. 

Onion  River  Land  Company,  81. 

Onion,  or  Winooski  river,  85, 
122,  123,  130. 

Oracles  of  Reason,  Ethan  Allen's, 
91. 

Orators  and  flatterers,  Distinc 
tion  between,  309. 

Otis,  Harrison  Gray,  224. 

Otis,  James,  54,  58. 

OTooles,  The  Clan  of  the,  3. 

Otter  Creek,  87,  138. 

Paris,  Celebration  of  surrender 
of  Cornwallis  at,  96.  Treaty 
of,  100. 

Parker,  Isaac,  227. 

Parliament,  The,  52. 

Paterson's,  Judge,  arbitrary  con 
duct  on  the  bench,  356,  381. 

Paumperaug  Valley,  64. 

Pawlet,  137. 

Peep  of  Day  Boys,  13. 

Pendleton,  Edmund,  232. 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


525 


Peter  Porcupine,  William  Cob- 
bett  as,  unrivalled  scold  of 
American  politics,  212,  213,  214, 
235.  His  Gazette  on  Lyon- 
Griswold  fight,  240  to  247. 
Lampoons  Jefferson,  Monroe, 
Gallatin,  Jackson  and  Lyon, 

467- 

Pennsylvania,  Forests  of,  168. 
People  of  Vermont  want  to  pay 

Colonel  Lyon's  fine,  376. 
Phelps,  James  H.,  160. 
Phooca,  The  phantom  steed,  4. 
Pickering,     Timothy,     311.      His 

extraordinary      communication 

to  Congress,  312. 
Pilgrims,  The,  of  Plymouth,  95. 
Pinckney,     Charles     Cotesworth, 

3H. 

Pinckney,  Thomas,  227,  232. 

Pitt,  William,  the  elder,  on  tax 
ing  America,  49. 

Pittsford,  119. 

Plantagenets,  The,  18. 

Plowden's  History  of  Ireland,  12. 

Plymouth,  Patent  of,  by  James 
the  First,  107. 

Poore,  Ben  Perley,  28. 

Porter,  Gen.  Peter  B.,  74. 

Port  Folio,  Dr.  Dennie's,  439. 

Portraits  of  history,  215. 

Poultney  river,  88. 

Poyning's  Law,  21. 

President  of  Congress,  94. 

President   of   the   United   States, 

87- 

Presidential  election  of  1801;  er 
rors  of  Hildreth,  Lodge,  and 
others  on  it,  383. 

Prices  under  apprentice  system, 
68. 


Printer  and  bookbinder,  Mat 
thew  Lyon  a,  15. 

Proclamation,  Savage,  by  Bur- 
goyne,  141. 

Proprietary  or  Governor,  58. 

Protestants  and  Catholics,  13. 

Provincial  Congress  of  New 
York,  116,  117. 

Puffendorf  on  the  Law  of  Na 
tions,  172. 

Puritan  and  Patroon,  100. 

Quakers,  The,  76. 

Queen  Anne,  20. 

Questionable  affair,  176. 

Quids,  The,  organized  in  Con 
gress  by  John  Randolph,  441. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  60,  61,  89.  Col 
onel  Lyon's  letters  to,  486  to 
490. 

Quincy,  Miss  Eliza  Susan,  sends 
author  Colonel  Lyon's  original 
letters  to  her  father,  60.  Her 
own  letter,  485,  486. 

Quintilian  on  Mountaineers,  4. 
On  orators,  310. 

Rack- Rents,  n. 

Randall,  Joseph,  98. 

Randall,    Dr.,    on    1801    election, 

391- 

Randolph,  Edmund,  219. 

Randolph,  John,  of  Roanol^e,  on 
true  leaders,  202.  Challenges 
Daniel  Webster  to  fight  a 
duel,  301.  His  revelations  of 
warlike  plans  to  seat  Jefferson 
in  1801  in  Presidency,  394. 
Results  achieved  by  Jefferson 


526 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


and  Randolph,  436.  He  votes 
to  refund  Lyon's  fine,  440. 
Leads  the  Quids;  Jefferson 
underrates  Randolph,  441. 
Randolph  assails  Gideon 
Granger  and  excites  hostility 
in  his  party,  444.  Clash  im 
pending  between  Lyon  and 
Randolph,  449.  The  Virginian 
attacks  Bidwell  and  breaks 
with  Jefferson,  449.  No  one 
able  to  take  his  place  as  leader 
of  House,  450.  He  attacks 
Lyon  who  retorts  fiercely,  453, 
454.  Sawyer's  anecdote,  458, 
Whittier's  poem  on  Randolph 
as  Bard,  Sage  and  Tribune,  458. 
Reported  attack  of  Tristam 
Burgess  on  Randolph  a  myth, 
458.  The  Randolph-Clay  duel, 
301. 

Redemptioners,  34. 

Read,  David,  162. 

Reeve,  Tapping,  74,  77. 

Regiment  of  Rangers,  153. 

Report  of  a  British  spy,  162,  163. 

Revolution,  The,  93,  103,  113,  131, 
134,  135,  161,  169. 

Revolutionary  gun  of  Colonel 
Lyon,  414. 

Reynolds' s  Governor,  Sketch,  ,of 
Lyon,  427,  428. 

Riedesel,  Baron,  134,  135. 

Roaring  Brook,  The,  99. 

Robin  Hood,  Ethan  Allen  called, 
100. 

Robinson,  Captain,  81.  Moses, 
142,  176.  Samuel,  142.  The 
two  Robinsons,  147,  150. 

Robinson,  Beverley,  the  Tory, 
171. 


Robinson,  R.  E.,  on  immense 
multitude  that  accompanied 
Lyon  from  Vergennes  jail;  In 
troduction,  379,  380. 

Roe,  Mrs.  Eliza  A.,  daughter  of 
Matthew  Lyon,  7,  29.  She  cor 
rects  errors  about  her  father, 
37.  Her  letter  to  author  rela 
tive  to  her  father's  emigration, 
39,  41,  69.  Her  book  of  recol 
lections  of  Frontier  Life,  99. 
Another  book,  An  Abolition 
story,  by  Mrs.  Roe,  99.  Inci 
dents  of  her  father's  removal  to 
Kentucky  quoted  from  her 
book,  411  to  414. 

Roe,  John  H.,  425. 

Rood,  Azariah,  130. 

Rothschild,  the  Napoleon  of  fi 
nance,  66. 

Roundheads,  The,  50. 

Rowan,  Archibald  Hamilton,  43. 
Calls  Congress  a  "  boxing 
school,"  235. 

Rowley,  Tom,  the  Shoreham 
bard,  98,  142,  148,  150. 

Royce,  Stephen,  99. 

Rush,  Dr.,  128. 

Rutland,  87,  164. 

Rutland  Herald,  206. 

Rutledge,  John,  227. 

Sabine's  Loyalists  gives  names  of 
swarms  of  Tories,  201. 

Safford,  Samuel,  176. 

St.  Clair,  Gen.  Arthur,  130  to  136. 
His  army,  137,  139. 

St.  Kevin  and  the  Lady,  5. 

St.  Leger's,  General,  tell-tale  let 
ter,  79,  173- 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


527 


Salem  Gazette  on  Colonel  Lyon, 

199- 
Salisbury,  Connecticut,  69,  70,  72, 

90,  91. 
Saratoga,  128,   132,  140,  155,   157, 

170,  173,  174. 

Sanderson,  Rev.  H.  H.,  100,  164. 
Scourge   of    Aristocracy,    24,    76, 

80,  207,  208,  327  to  337. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  5,  377. 
Scott,  the  backwoodsman  of 

Wallingford,  98. 
Scotch  Irish,  a  propitiatory  name, 

9- 

Scotchmen,  Thrifty,  19. 

Schleswig-Holstein  question,  103. 

Schuyler,  Gen.  Philip,  restores 
Lyon  to  Continental  army,  and 
appoints  him  paymaster,  126, 
131,  132,  137  to  140. 

Secret  negotiations  of  Vermont- 
ers  with  the  British,  171. 

Sedition  law,  165. 

Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives  in  Philadelphia,  236. 

Severe  rebuke  of  John  Jay  to 
Alexander  Hamilton,  316. 

Sewall,  Samuel,  introduces  reso 
lution  to  expel  Matthew  Lyon 
from  Congress,  227. 

Seward,  William  H.,  314,  432. 

Seymour,  Horatio,  74. 

Sheffield,  84. 

Sheehy,  Rev.  Nicholas,  butchered 
by  English,  Introduction. 

Sheehy,  Edmund,  put  to  death  by 
English,  Introduction. 

Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley,  16. 

Sheridan,  Gen.  Philip,  226. 

Sherman,  John,  and  J.  M. 
Wright  in  a  sharp  scuffle  on 
floor  of  the  House,  304. 


Shillalah,  Forest  of,  i. 
Shorthand  reporters,  320. 
Skeensborough,  133,  135,  137. 
Slade's    State    Papers,    143,    178. 

His     speech    on    welcome    to 

Colonel  Lyon,  378. 
Smallpox  in  American  army,  118. 
Smith,  John  Cotton,  77. 
Smith,  Congressman,  227. 
Snobbium   Gatherum,   Ladies  of, 

210. 

Sons  of  Liberty,  46,  59,  113. 
South   Carolina  students,   78,  80. 

State  of,  87. 
Southey,  Robert,  86. 
Southern    students    at   Litchfield, 

78. 

Spafford,  Jonathan,  84,  166. 
Sparks's,    Jared,    Life    of    Ethan 

Allen,    104.     On   the    Intrigue, 

177- 

Spencer,  Benjamin,  97. 
Spencer,  Squire,  a  traitor,  149. 
Spenser,  Edmund,  the  poet,  3. 
Spies  and  informers,  14. 
Springfield  Armory,  69. 
Spooner,     Paul,     142,     148,     149. 

Mr.  Spooner,  206. 
Squatter  Sovereignty,  98. 
Stamp    Act    passed,    46.     Stamps 

surrendered  to  mayor  of  New 

York,  46,  53-,  56,  58,  63,  66. 
Stark,  Gen.  John,  79,  91,  142,  169, 

173,  174- 

Stars  and  Stripes,  156. 
State  Archives  at  Albany,  117. 
State  Trials  of  the  United  States, 

82. 
Stephens,     Alexander     H.,     226. 

He    describes    a    fist    fight   on 

floor  of  Congress,  305. 


528 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


Stephens,  Linton,  226. 
Stockbridge,  84. 
Stone,  Col.  William  L.,  174. 
Storm,    Violent,    during   meeting 

of  Vermonters,  141. 
Story's,  Judge,  Law  School,  74- 
Strafford,  The  remorseless,   19. 
Street  pageants  by  Congressmen, 

3io. 

Strongbow  in  Ireland,  4. 
Strong,  John,  84. 
Struggles  of  Vermont,  175. 
Stuart,  The,  dynasty,  i& 
Sullivan,  General,  119,  133- 
Sumner,  Charles,  432. 
Sunderland,  143,  157- 
Supreme  Court  of  United  States, 

432. 

Swarms  of  Irish  arrive  in  Amer 
ica,  43- 

Swift,  Dean,  12,  17 •  His  Drap- 
ier's  Letters,  21. 

Swiss,  The,  Cantons,  91. 

Talleyrand  a  match  for  Hamil 
ton  at  intrigue,  313,  3M- 

Taney,  Roger  B.,  432. 

Taylor,  George,  signer  of  Dec 
laration  of  Independence,  a  re- 
demptioner,  40,  73. 

Taylor,  John,  of  Caroline,  376. 

Tell,  William,  91. 

Territory  of  Arkansas,  165. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  on  Washing 
ton,  168. 

Thebaud's,  Father,  Irish  Race, 
Past  and  Present,  19. 

Thompson's,  D.  P.,  address  and 
quotations  from  speech  of  Mat 
thew  Lyon,  144,  145,  148,  162. 

Thompson's,  Dr.,  History  of  Ver 
mont,  134. 


Thompson,  Charles,  the  old  Per 
petual  Secretary  of  the  Con 
tinental  Congress,  320. 

Thompson,  Waddy,  of  South 
Carolina,  makes  a  vigorous 
speech,  and  secures  restitution 
of  Colonel  Lyon's  fine,  325. 
He  compares  him  to  John 
Hampden,  325. 

Ticonderoga,  71,  84,  85,  92,  95, 
97,  113.  First  offensive  blow 
of  Americans,  113  to  115,  129 
to  133,  135,  142,  161,  174,  180. 
Its  warlike  implements  beaten 
into  plough  shares,  196. 

Tinmouth,  72,  98. 

Tithes,  ii. 

Tomlinson,  Isaac,  67. 

Tory  speculators,  113.  Influence 
General  Gates,  120,  136,  152, 
156,  162,  166.  Their  names 
suppressed,  178.  Become  Fed 
eralists,  201.  They  destroy  that 
party,  201.  They  dislike  Jeffer 
son  and  Lyon,  201. 

Tracy,  Uriah,  74. 

Traitor,  A,  in  Vermont,  146. 

Travels  of  Dr.  Dwight  in  New 
England  and  New  York,  85. 

Treaty  of  Paris,  53. 

Trumbull's  Colonial  Records,  64. 

Trumbull,  John,  134. 

Tryon,  Governor,  97.  Puts  a 
price  on  Ethan  Allen's  head, 
102. 

Tucker,  Prof.  George,  210. 

Tucker,  John  Randolph,  Intro 
duction. 

Tudors,  The,  18. 

Tupper,  Sergeant,  79,  173. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


529 


Turney,  Congressmen,  and  Bell 
engage  in  a  free  fight  on  floor 
of  House,  302. 

Ulster,  The  Irish  of,  9. 

Union,  Admission  of  Vermont 
to,  102. 

United  States,  101,  172.  People 
of,  roused  to  warlike  pitch 
against  France,  313. 

United  States  Statute  for  pro 
tection  of  women,  42. 

Upset  price  for  Vermont,  $30,000, 
102. 

Valley    of    Lake    Champlain,    82, 

85. 

Valley  Forge,  94. 
Vander  Donck's  outlines  of  New 

York  boundaries,  109. 
Vattel,  172. 

Venable,  Congressman,  227. 
Vergennes,  Count  de,  168. 
Vergennes   Jail,    26,   338  to   355, 

374  to  380,  382. 
Vermont,  62,  78.     Child  of  Litch- 

field  county,  79,  82,  85,  88,  93. 

Lands  of,   100,   101.     Fortune's 

favorite  child,  101,  102,  105,  129, 

135.    Historical     Society,     140. 

Constitution  adopted,  141,  142, 

148,  156,  158,  161,  162,  167,  170, 

171,  172,  174,  177. 
Vermonters,       113,       115,       173. 

Honest  shame  of,  178. 
Vermont   families,    a   number   of 

them    go    to    Kentucky    with 

Colonel  Lyon,  413. 
View  of  the  State  of  Ireland,  by 

Edmund  Spenser,  3. 
Virginia,   141. 


Volunteers,    Irish,    Grattan    and 

the,  22. 
Von  Hoist,  Dr.  H.  K,  316. 

Wadleigh,  F.  A.,  157.  His  ac 
count  of  Tory  tribulations,  181. 

Wallingford,  72,  85,  87,  97  to  99. 
Centennial  of,  99,  100,  113,  119, 
129,  159.  Whigs  of,  160,  164. 

Walpole,  Robert,  49. 

Walpole,  Horace,  127. 

Walshes,  Clan  of  the,  3. 

Walton,  E.  P.,  of  Montpelier, 
102,  144,  157,  158,  162,  163.  His 
opinion  of  Matthew  Lyon,  195, 
197,  198- 

Warner,  Seth,  at  Ancient  Wood- 
bury,  48,  66,  80,  82,  91.  Lieu 
tenant  Colonel,  116.  His  ser 
vices  in  Canada,  117  to  121,  133 
to  135,  139,  140,  142,  155,  156, 
163,  165,  171,  226. 

Washington,  George,  64,  04,  95, 
96,  127.  Gates's  open  rupture 
with,  128,  131,  134,  147.  Sides 
with  Hamilton  against  Adams, 
219,  311.  Commander-in-Chief, 
314.  An  eye  opener,  314. 
Sinks  the  partisan  in  the 
patriot,  315.  Fathoms  Burr, 
387. 

Washington  City,  Great  changes 
at,  after  Jefferson's  election, 

431- 

Watchman,  The  Vermont,  158. 
Weare,  Governor,  170. 
Webster,  Daniel,  Epigram  of,  58, 

86.     His   remark   on  Jefferson, 

201. 
Wentworth,     Benning,     81,     100, 

102,  105,  107,  in. 


530 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


West  Haven,  88. 

West  Hill,  98. 

Western  Republic,  169. 

Westward  the  course  of  Empire, 
Berkeley,  38. 

Westward  Ho!  Colonel  Lyon 
sets  out  for  Kentucky,  410. 

Wexford  County,  Ireland,  3. 

Wharton,  Francis,  his  State  Trials 
of  United  States,  Introduction, 
28,  33,  82.  On  Lyon's  trial, 
337.  Extols  Lyon's  demeanor, 
340. 

White  Boys,  Introduction,  6,  13. 

Whitehall,  Letters  patent  from, 
107. 

White,  Pliny  H.,  his  account  of 
Colonel  Lyon,  42,  59,  60,  141, 
158,  163,  164,  165,  195,  339,  378, 
395- 

Whittier,  John  G.,  his  Song  of 
the  Vermonters,  167.  His 
poem  on  John  Randolph,  455. 

Wicklow,  birthplace  of  Matthew 
Lyon,  Introduction,  i.  Its 
scenery,  2.  Manners  of  peo 
ple,  2. 

Wilkinson,  Gen.  James,  his  trib 
ute  to  Matthew  Lyon,  137.  He 
relates  how  Lyon  rescued  army 
from  Burgoyne.  His  letter  to 
Colonel  Lyon,  483  to  485. 

Williams,  Dr.,  103.  Editor  of 
Rutland  Herald,  206.  Refuses 
to  publish  Colonel  Lyon's  let 
ter,  326. 

Williams,  Congressman,  227. 

William  of  Orange,  6,  20,  51. 
Confirms  New  York-Connecti 
cut  agreement,  108. 


Williamstown  College,  alma 
mater  of  President  Garfield,  84. 

Williston,  85,  87. 

Wilson,  F.  A.,  sends  to  author, 
Lyon's  family  record,  31. 

Windsor  Convention,  140,  141, 
142,  1 60. 

Windsor  Journal,  199,  206.  Pub 
lishes  Lyon's  letter  for  which 
he  was  indicted,  207. 

Winooski  Falls,  81. 

Wise,  Henry  A.,  A  wordy  war, 
302.  His  fight  with  John  Stan 
ley  in  House,  305. 

Wolcott,  Oliver,  Sr.,  74,  77. 

Wolcott,  Oliver,  Jr.  His  in 
credible  treachery  to  John 
Adams,  220.  Stinging  com 
ment  of  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  220. 

Wolfe,  Gen.  James,  83,  118. 

Wooden,  The,  sword,  brandished 
at  Philadelphia,  215. 

Woodruff's  History  of  Litchfield 
County,  30,  61,  62. 

Woodstock,  158. 

Wooster,  General,  119. 

Wright,  Jonathan,  130,  133. 

Yale  College,  77-  College  buys 
Scourge  of  Aristocracy,  208. 

Yazoo  frauds.  Secretaries  Madi 
son,  Gallatin  and  Lincoln  as 
United  States  Commissioners 
favor  compromise  of  dispute, 
443.  Subject  warmly  debated 
in  House,  443.  Lyon  pro 
nounced  great  debater  by  Mr. 
Elliot,  443.  The  scandal  does 
not  help  the  Federalists,  447- 

Yorkers,  93,  100,  102,  113. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


531 


Yorktown,  96,  155. 
Young,  The,  Pretender,  6. 
Young,  Thomas,  92. 

X  Y  Z  imposture,  211,  312.    A 


blackmailing  scheme,  313.  Like 
Fort  Sumter  it  fired  the  popu 
lar  heart,  and  war  with  France 
was  narrowly  averted,  314. 


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LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Siip-20m-8,'61(C162384)458 


McLaughlin,  J.F. 
Matthew  Lyon. 


Call  Number: 

E302.6 
L9 

M3 


^c  Laugh  I  in 

M3 


234566 


